In the past industries, companies, organizations and various governments worldwide have used sports as a tool for advertising and promoting their services or products.
Three years ago, the Rwanda government agreed to a sponsorship with English Premier League club Arsenal Football Club with their commonly known phrase of “Visit Rwanda” on the sleeves of their jerseys since May 2018 in a deal which was worth £30m.
In the same-way, the Government of Uganda through its tourism arm of the Uganda Tourism Board is rumored to be in talks with England`s Manchester United Football Club to be the main shirt sponsor replacing the Germany based software company,Team Viewer.
“As one of the officials in government, I had about it in rumours, however, am not certain about it,” Ngombek Linos, Member of Parliament of Kibanda North County to NBS Sport.
“But I had one of the colleagues from Uganda Tourism Board whispering that the government of Uganda is in talks with England`s Manchester United.”
“So, they might strike a deal to sponsor the earlier mentioned club,” he added.
Earlier in February 2021, the Uganda Tourism Board named Ugandan long-distance runner, Joshua Cheptegei in a one year deal, so this will not be the first time the board is considering promoting Tourism through sports.
The Member of Parliament for Kibanda North County added: “If a club has numerous fans and supporters worldwide it can influence and bring masses of tourists to the Pearl of Africa, just like it is to our neighbours of Rwanda.”
“If this partnership comes to reality it will benefit us as a country and it will be a big milestone for us.”
“Therefore we are waiting to see how things will go on”, he concluded while he was being interviewed on NBS Sport television program, NBS Lunch Time Sports on Wednesday.
It should be noted that TeamViewer signed a partnership with Manchester United for five years (from 2021 to 2025) in a deal which was worth around £47m per season and it has seen United earn around £235m during the duration of contract.
