Finally some good news comes through…after some great work by Sam Mwai and his team at Sports Stadia Management Board, one of Nairobi’s premier sports grounds will now operate under the name- Coca-Cola National Stadium.
The grounds which have a football pitch, basketball court/gymnasium, handball pitch, swimming pool and volleyball courts will need the estimated US$ 1.5 million (approx.KShs.117 million) which Coca-Cola has signed to acquire the rights over the next 3 years. The courts especially, badly need some refurbishment from the torn turfs to the poor lighting and scoreboards’ installation.
I pay great respects to Sam and the rest of team for seemingly making headways in the midst of troubled waters in sports management. They have managed to put up with some abysmal and incompetent sports officials likes of which manage football. I guess the attendance of important fora like the recent Soccerex exhibition in South Africa may be bearing fruit.
I also hope you keep the focus right through into the World Cup next year. Who knows you could be rewarded with some top international teams paying a visit to your stadia for preparations for the 2010 WC.
6 comments:
Its a positive step, though it would have been in better taste to name it after a sporting legend, like say Joe Masiga, or Naftali Tembu.
The name Coca Cola National Stadium implies that there is a country somewhere called Coca Cola and this is its National stadium.
@Andruid: Don't quite agree with your observation "The name Coca Cola National Stadium "
For starters, you can't pay all that money then name someone else! Secondly, the "National" was left there because it denotes a sense of unity which sports, and of course Coca-Cola, have in common...
It's about the World's Most Valuable Brand bring you one of the World's Most Unifying Factors...sports.
Actually I think they can, and it would help the image of Coca Cola if they were to go out of their way to associate themselves with a personality Kenyans look up to.
@Andruid: and then you would have to deal with the egos of all the other sports greats who have also done something major for the nation and feel they should be recognized...
The Coke way is the right way. Human nature dictates that we don't all look up to the same person for inspiration - some of us are inspired more by Jelimo than Masiga and vice versa...
the best thing to do is align yourself with the one unifying factor - SPORTS - and the one UNIVERSAL brand that has been associated with sports since 1928 and voila! A winning combination!
Interesting debate, that's why they are called RIGHTS, you PAY to have YOUR NAME go up there.
It's a good start and the price's fair, I only hope, Stadia Mgt Board can build/renovate more stadia across the country. If this had started like 5 years ago,I'm sure we'd have confirmed bookings for pre-World Cup training grounds. But then again, it's Kenya.
SportsKenya, couldn't agree with you more. Well said!
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