UPL set to meet with sponsors to iron out area of concerns

The Uganda Premier League (UPL) have set a meeting with title sponsor StarTimes to discuss areas of concern in their 10-year contract.

According to Daily Monitor, StarTimes, Fufa, and the UPL have been on a low-key standoff since the sponsors withheld the third-quarter release of funds for league operations.

The newspaper understands the cause of the standoff is an interpretation of a section in the contract about the display of ad content on pitchside advertising boards.

The sponsors duly released the first two quarters of July-September and October-December in the first round of the league.

But the penultimate third quarter for January-March, which was supposed to have been wired by February 3, remains pending – leaving both the UPL secretariat and the 16 clubs at sea.

Asked about the delays in February, UPL chief executive Bernard Bainamani told Daily Monitor among the areas in the contract they wanted to be reviewed when they met with the sponsors was for the payments to be done by or on the first of every month of every quarter.

“That is how it has been. It is now that the delay has come about, although according to the contract they are still within the payment period [within 30 days after the due date],” Bainamani said at the time.

Fufa, UPL, and StarTimes eventually met a week ago and several issues were raised, with the sponsors tasking Fufa to fix gaps from its side and revert with a way forward.

“It is actually not a question of money being available,” StarTimes branding and marketing manager Isma Lule told Daily Monitor.

“And it is not about the sponsor, it is just a contractual dispute; some few elements in the contract to be fulfilled by our partners for us to come through. It is really something small. I’m confident we will resolve it.”

StarTimes, Fufa and the league in August 2018 entered a 10-year deal worth $7.2m (Shs27b) to broadcast the competition.