The Botswana Basketball Association (BBA) will need at least P80 000 to run the league this season according to the budget that has been proposed. The league does not have a sponsor so far, that has prompted the BBA to anticipate money raised from teams’ registrations fee.
According to a budget drawn by the BBA League Committee in the 11 April 2015 Manager’s Meeting minutes seen by Gazette Sport, the league will need P78 000 to run it this season. The breakdown of the budget is: the cost of venues P15 000, payment of officials will amount to P46 080 and the league administration is P17 000, presenting a grand total of P78 080.
The League Committee has resolved that all 18 teams affiliated to BBA should pay P4500 as registration fee in order to meet the above mentioned budget. If all teams pay the registration fee on time, the money will sum up to P81 000, meaning the proposed budget will be achieved.
Tomorrow is the deadline of the payment of registration fees by local basketball teams. Initially the deadline was 20 April 2015 but was postponed to the 29 April. The league is expected to start on Friday after delays and postponements due to the League Committee’s series of meetings and resolutions.
“In our last meeting the teams agreed to pay the P4500 fee but said the suggestion came at short notice. On the 20th of April the teams asked the committee to move the deadline to month end where almost everyone will have money,” said the League Committee Vice Chairman Israel Mphato.
Mphato said failure to pay the fee by the teams will have them sidelined for the whole season as this was an agreement made by all the managers and should not be compromised. He said the reason some teams are paying late is because they want last year’s budget statement from the BBA treasurer.
The teams are still waiting for a statement from BBA about how last season’s money was used. Teams like BDF and Police, who are government sponsored, have to account to their sponsors before they ask for registration fee assistance hence the demand for the statement.
“We are meeting on Monday 6pm (yesterday) and we will be looking at our progress in terms of registration fee payments,” said Mphato.
The teams have since agreed on splitting the league and another voting was done at the last Manager’s meeting. Out of seventeen teams, one absent, 12 agreed that the league should be split while only four were against the idea. New comers Avengers decided to abstain from voting.
The mens league is going to have 12 teams and they will be divided into two. Last year’s top six in the league will be on Division A while that finished in the bottom six will be on Division B. The women’s league will now have six teams after Avengers joined the pool a few months ago.