Dikko, Bako differ on Redstrike deal

 

By Taofeek Babalola

Chairman League Management Company (LMC) Shehu Dikko and former Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Dr. Nasir Danladi Bako are sharply divided over the recent sponsorship deal struck by the league organising body with UK- based company Redstrike Sports.

LMC, had last week entered into strategic and investment partnership with Redstrike Sports to commercialise the Nigeria Professional Football Club (NPFL).

 

Speaking on Sportsville on Sunday, Dikko said  the Redstrike deal would pump more money into the Nigerian League via  television in order to take the league to the next level.

 

“With the Redstrike deal we would have our own production capacity where we can produce our games and put it on television and put on other platforms as well,” declared Dikko. “At the end of the day we will see more of our games on television, we will see more money come in and more importantly we will see more professionalism. This deal is remarkably different.”

 

Dikko said Redstrike would deliver, given the pedigree of the company, pointing out that the UK outfit has an intimidating profile:

 

“The CEO of the company is a former MD of Manchester United and  they are not just involved with football; they are in Rugby,  motor sports, golf and they have been successful everywhere  and they are coming along with other partners. “

 

But Bako in a separate interview said that the NPFL quality is not good enough to produce contents that are required for the satellite TV, advising the LMC to make NPFL brands more attractive since bad product won’t sell on TV.

 

“I have said it several times, first of all your players and your league must be TV friendly,” Bako said during a programme on Sports Salsa. “When your players and league are TV friendly, the referee are in good shape and everything is in order then you have a product.  But right now we don’t have the product that is sellable.”

 

But  63-year-old foremost  broadcaster and Kogunan Sakwatto further said: “Those projections (by the LMC)  sound nice but for me they are just projection on papers, two hundred million dollars whatever, all of that is paper talk.

 

“We have seen so many projections like that in the past. What are the conditions for Redstrike, when there is force majeure and the league stops what happens? Where are collaterals? He warned.