http://nairanotes.com/

If you are one of those EPL jersey wearing fans in various Nigerian cities that use the pronouns ‘us’ and ‘we’ for various British teams, you can stop reading now, as this memo is not a buy-in to your misplaced devotion. There is something cringe-worthy about the whole ELP craze in Nigeria that might be better suited for psycho analysis and not business analysis.

There is an economic angle to it however, with the subtle, but significant capital flight, as over $100million a year leaves Nigerian pockets to enrich EPL owners, through broadcast rights for matches. A law compelling a percentage of the payments for those rights to be used to set up a local league fund to be overseen by the LMC might not be a bad idea.

Now to the topic at hand:

Dangote group Chairman Aliko Dangote, who has had a multi-year obsession to buy London club, Arsenal, publicly re-stated his interest over the summer. The interest is understood as Arsenal would be a great investment. The club owns its stadium and consistently makes a healthy profit (a rarity among its European peers). The club also recently ended its title drought with the English FA Cup, and could contend for the EPL title and continental honours this year.

Beyond the financial numbers and the on-field performance however, it is the marketing and publicity impact that makes the most compelling case for the type of investment Dangote is considering. Imagine the impact of having the Dangote brand flashing across Arsenal jerseys and beaming to a global audience (not forgetting millions of jersey wearing fans who willingly pay upwards of $50 to serve as mobile advertising boards). Think of the publicity and possible political capital (or at least insulation from persecution/prosecution) that Thaksin Shinawatra (Man City) and Roman Abramovich (Chelsea) have been able to gain from owning EPL sides.

With all the positives listed above, why should Dangote give up his pursuit of Arsenal? Simple; He can achieve his objectives for much less. With Arsenal, he would end up overpaying as there would be a huge premium (between 50% and 100%, we reckon) on the current $1.5billion valuation to try to compel unwilling and unmotivated owners whose ownership of the club has more to do with pride and ego than financial reasons.

Largest shareholder , Stan Kroenke (67% of shares), who also owns the St. Louis Rams and the Denver Nuggets, was already a wealthy man before marrying Ann Walton, daughter of Walmart co-founder Bud Walton, in 1973. The other major investor with around 30% of the shares, is Alisher Usmanov, Russia’s richest man, whose net financial worth is estimated as not too far from Dangote’s.

It should therefore be clear that there is little to suggest that Dangote can force the sale of a club owned by two billionaires with an uneasy relationship, and who both want to acquire more shares than each already controls. We suggest he saves himself from wasting money and getting a bruised ego by avoiding a doomed expedition with Arsenal as there is a much brighter prospect for him: WOLVES.

Read more here http://nairanotes.com/lead_story/lead-story-4/

DSTV may have paid as much as $600 million for Africa EPL rights.

There is no way the Nigerian portion of that is not at least $200 million.

Your love for Arsenal and Man U is causing the depreciation of the naira (Capital flight)


http://www.contadorharrison.com/cost-of-english-premier-leagues-rights-in-africa-will-rise/