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Sports News of Thursday, 9 August 2012

Source: supersport.com

Glo money to come through

The Ghana Premier League headline sponsor has presented a payment plan to redeem itself of unpaid sponsorship money for the past couple of seasons, Supersport.com understands.

The parent body of local clubs in the country, the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) a fortnight ago issued an ultimatum on behalf of its members to the GFA to retrieve sponsorship monies owing its top flight division clubs.

The step taken by GHALCA seem to have yielded results as Premier League sponsors, Glo Mobile Ghana, have communicated their plans to pay up the bills in two tranches to the Ghana Football Association .

Payment Plan

Documents intercepted by Supersport.com show that Glo are preparing to make a presentation of a half payment by Saturday, August 11 with the remainder to be settled on October 11.

However, the 16 Premier League clubs have kicked against the date for the second payment (October 11) demanding it be moved forward - preferably by September 14.

Supersport.com understands that the reason for the clubs agitation is that the new season would have started by Glo's proposed settlement date, while the clubs argue that they will be in dire need of the outstanding money for pre-season expenses.

The Figures

Glo Mobile Ghana, a subsidiary of Globacom International took over as the headline sponsor of the league in a five-year deal worth $15 million in December 2008. Glo were therefore to dish out $3 million to the 16 participating clubs per season until the end of the 2013/14 season.

However, the telecommunication company have been inconsistent in their payment of the sponsorship monies citing the delays in its inability to start operations in the country as the major factor. Glo Mobile Ghana has been in operation for about 100 days now and the company is yet to make payments of its outstanding sponsorship debt.

From the documents sighted by SuperSport.com, Glo currently owe the clubs a total of about $5.5million - inclusive of the just ended season’s sponsorship amount. Until recently, the 16 Premier League clubs had agreed with the GFA to waive 10 percent of the amount owed them after Glo made a promise of settling the clubs by the end of May 2012. That discount facility has now been since Glo failed to fulfil their promise.

Glo were expected to pay about $2.3million after discount.

The clubs have also rejected a further 5% discount request by Glo because the Executive Committee of the GFA have agreed on the arrangement without their consent. The clubs are now demanding a 100 percent payment (approximately $2.5million) plus the total amount for the 2011/12 season.

Uncertainty

It is however uncertain if the half-payment Glo have promised to pay by August 11 will be half of the about $5.5million per the current stance taken by the clubs or half of the already agreed arrangement. Glo Mobile Ghana last paid $1.2million to the Ghana Football Association as part-payment of its sponsorship of the league in April this year.