Sports fans may have been surprised recently to read that Nigeria is planning to reclassify sport as a business activity. What does this mean and will it affect the enjoyment we get from watching football, basketball and other sports?
The Full Story
This news was broken by Sunday Dare, who is the Minister of Sports and Youth Development. He announced that sport is going to be treated as a business in the future and will contribute to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) like every other type of business. These comments came at a meeting in Abuja, where Dare was setting up a technical committee to look at the subject of National Sports as Business Policy.
This committee will be made up of ten advisors led by Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, who is the Minister of Finance. Their job is to come up with the details of how this change will work in real life. Minister Dare pointed out that this new policy fits in with how other countries work and will ease the financial burden faced by the Nigerian government.
The move follows more than three years of reviews of the current and past sports policies. Their overall reflection was that handling sport as a business sector correctly can boost a country’s GDP while improving areas such as employment, grants, and scholarship opportunities.
Will It Change How We Enjoy Sports?
The growing presence of sports betting in Nigeria and other countries shows how big a part of our lives this pastime has become. We can see how betting software is now widely available on platforms that can be modified and localised for fans anywhere. With the chance to bet on global and local sporting events, this has become an important element of the sporting world and shows one example of how business and sport can work together.
In general terms, the massive popularity of football and other sports in Nigeria shouldn’t be too affected by this change. However, we can see one possible area of improvement in the fact that Minister Dare started this process as a way of funding the renovations needed at the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos. If treating sport as a business helps to improve the nation’s infrastructure, then this is a positive for fans. However, the worry they may have is whether treating sport as business ventures will lead to any negative impact such as increasing entry prices to stadiums or the cost to watch games on TV.
The other key aspect could be in the development of new athletes, as Dare mentioned areas such as incentives for scholarships, which could be hugely important in bringing through the next generation of sporting stars.
What Happens Next?
Until we know more details of the policy to be put in place, it’s difficult to work out the exact impact that these changes will have on our lives. Certainly, the idea of having sport generate GDP to help Nigeria progress seems like a good idea, but fans will be keen to see more details to find out if it makes any difference to how they enjoy their hobby.