The Ministry of Sports says it is open to commercialising naming rights for major sporting facilities in Kenya as an attempt to derive value from the funds used in the construction or renovation of the arenas.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen noted that the government continues to invest heavily in sports infrastructure and vouched for a plan to ensure value for money at major stadiums on revenue collection. Revenue collected could be used for maintenance and other purposes to enhance sports in the country.
Revenue generation As a global practice, one way to tap into revenue from such significant multibillion investments as the Kasarani Stadium, Nyayo Stadium, and the proposed Talanta Sports City is by relinquishing naming rights to corporate investors for monetary gain.
According to Murkomen, the Ministry is keen on receiving bids for the acquisition of naming rights to the stadiums. “We are very happy to offer naming rights as part of what I am discussing. You do not have to take over the whole stadium; you can have naming rights, and investors can also acquire advertising rights on the screens or the stadium sideboards. Therefore, we are willing and ready to sell the naming rights of stadiums.
There is no point in denying Kenyans resources by holding onto the name of a particular stadium.
“Karatu Stadium will still be in Karatu even if we name it after any company in the world, but the resources generated can help in the development of talent in this area. We must move away from the mentality of merely having facilities for the sake of prestige. We want to see our sports facilities generating revenue,” the CS averred after inspecting construction works at the proposed Karatu Stadium in Gatundu South, Kiambu County.
The sale of naming rights for stadiums in Kenya to the private sector is not a new concept, though it has received mixed reactions from both the government and the public in the past. For example, in 2009, a lucrative multimillion three-year deal with global beverage giant Coca-Cola to take the naming rights of Nyayo National Stadium was rejected by the state, which claimed the facility held too much history and heritage for its name to be changed.
The sports venue had briefly been renamed Coca-Cola National Stadium, but after an outcry from some parliamentarians and the Ministry of Sports at the time, the partnership between the soft drink manufacturer and the Stadium Management Board, which was tied to a whopping Sh120 million deal, was terminated just three months after its inception.
The government demanded that the facility’s name revert to Nyayo National Stadium.
“We have moved past that as a country; we are now beyond that stage of prestige, where we have things for the sake of appearances. There must be value for money and value for our people. If Coca-Cola had invested Sh100 million in Nyayo Stadium at that time, just imagine what we could have accomplished. We could have built another stadium,” Murkomen commented on the aborted deal to rebrand Nyayo Stadium 15 years ago.
Previous deals Nyayo Stadium also underwent a transformation after Britam won the branding rights worth over Sh100 million in 2015 for two years. In 2013, Kenya’s telecommunications giant Safaricom entered into a deal with Sports Kenya to rename Kasarani Stadium and the Indoor Arena for Sh55 million in a three-year contract.
The country’s cathedral of sports was then renamed Safaricom Kasarani Stadium, while the arena became known as Safaricom Indoor Arena. This deal led to a significant transformation of the iconic stadium through branding, signage as well as maintenance before the expiration of the contract.
With renovation works at Kasarani Stadium, Nyayo and the construction of the proposed Talanta Sports City in preparation for the African Championships (Chan) next February and the 2027 African Cup of Nations, the value of the naming rights for these three important sports arenas could also increase based on the funds invested in their refurbishment and development.
“The value will be determined by the market; for now, I cannot specify how much. We will conduct a valuation of the stadiums and open bidding for interested investors,” conveyed Sports Kenya director general Pius Metto.
