Football fans will dig deeper into their pockets to watch this weekend’s Blantyre derby between Mighty Wanderers and FCB Nyasa Big Bullets at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.
This follows Wanderers’ decision to hike gate entry fees for an advance standard ticket to K6,000 from K5,000.
Wanderers, as the home team, has released the hiked gate charges’ sheet for the highly anticipated derby.
Wanderers Brands and Marketing Manager Greyson Chapita justified the charges.
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“These gate entry charges have been carefully set in consideration of the current economic climate, where both clubs aim to maximise revenue while remaining sensitive to fans’ affordability. Hosting a high-profile derby of this nature also comes with significant operational costs,” Chapita said.
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On match day, a standard ticket will go at K8,000, advance MBC stand ticket is pegged at K8,000 whereas, on match day, it will cost K10,000.
Advance covered stand tickets are selling at K12,000 and will cost K15,000 on match day.
The VIP ticket is selling at K25,000 in advance and K30,000 on match day.
Chapita said there would be tight security on match day after they hired 100 police officers plus stewards and private security personnel.
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“The tickets have security features and we are working closely with our Bullets counterparts. We are closely monitoring [the situation] to avoid the proliferation of counterfeit tickets. This is why we are selling more advance tickets than those that will be sold at the gates for easy management,” he said.
On his part, Bullets Commercial Manager Kevin Moyo said they were working jointly with Wanderers ahead of the derby.
“We have tripled the number of officers who manage gates during our normal matches [that are] played by the two teams at Kamuzu Stadium. We have also included private security personnel for access control,” Moyo said.
Before the start of the season, Super League of Malawi (Sulom) increased the entry fee to K5000 from K4,000 for Grade A matches, which include the Blantyre derby and the Lilongwe derby between Silver Strikers and Civil Service United.
The league governing body’s treasurer Allie Mwachande said Wanderers consulted them before coming up with the gate charges.
“Let us respect football. The game is no longer cheap. Let us support the teams to maximise gate revenue,” he said.
Furthermore, Mwachande urged fans to go for e-ticketing.
“E-ticketing is the way to go to safeguard gate revenue. We, as Sulom, want fans to embrace the digital world,” he said.
Sports analyst Parry Chinyama said the derby deserves hiked gate charges.
Meanwhile, Silver have released gate charges for the Lilongwe derby against Civil at Silver Stadium this coming Sunday.
The development has seen advance standard tickets selling at K5000.
