Mighty Mukuru Wanderers were left fuming after they pocketed about K13.9 million from Sunday’s K67.7 million record gross revenue during the TNM Super League Blantyre derby against rivals FCB Nyasa Big Bullets at Kamuzu Stadium.
The revenue has surpassed the K56.4 million which was raised during the first round of the Blantyre derby.
Wanderers Chief Executive Officer Roosevelt Mpinganjira has expressed discontent with the teams’ cut as the two rivals collected the same amount with ground owners.
Mpinganjira highlighted the introduction of other expenses like renovations and chair hiring fees, which amounted to over K500,000.
“Teams struggle to pay players and other expenses prior to and after the games. However, you see ground owners cashing in from the little teams are sharing by putting unnecessary expenses like renovations of the ground and hiring of chairs.
“Who is supposed to hire the chairs? You will see if, even after that lion’s share, there will be any renovations for the next game. We find this very unfortunate,” he said.
According to the gate collections sheet summary, stadium renovations cost K350,000 while K230,000 catered for the hiring of chairs.
However, Bullets Chief Administration Officer Albert Chigoga opted to comment on the record gross revenue in the Blantyre derby ever since.
“We are very happy for breaking the gate revenue record as far as the Super League is concerned. This is attributed to good organisation in terms of marketing of the derby, tight security and match day entertainment,” Chigoga said.
He attributed the success to sound planning and good working relationships among stakeholders.
Super League of Malawi (Sulom) General Secretary Williams Banda said the two teams agreed to hire extra chairs.
“The issue of hiring extra chairs was agreed between the two teams and the stadium provided the 230 chairs they normally do for the VIP section. The extra chairs were what the teams agreed,” Banda said
However, Kamuzu Stadium Manager Irene Mkoko was yet to respond to our questionnaire as we went to press yesterday.
Fam and Sulom received about K5.5 million each while Malawi National Council of Sports got about K2.7 million.
