“We Have Mechanism That Will Use Football To Drive Abia Economy – Dinmiri”, Says Lagos & Abiola Stadia Huge Economic Waste

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The Promoter and Chief  Executive Officer, CEO, of 51Alliance, a sports and entertainment assets management outfit, Dike Dinmiri, has maintained that his over-riding interest in striking a partnership deal with the Abia state Government to float the novel Superlig is to increase the State’s GDP by, at least, five per cent.

This, he said, will be achieved through the creation of a value chain for all existing and new sporting infrastructural facilities in  Abia State.

In an interview with The Source on Friday July 12, 2024, the renowned sports business manager, insisted that, presently, sporting facilities, not just in Abia State, but all over Nigeria, are grossly under-utilized much to the detriment of the economic development of the country.

He noted that if maximally put into use, existing sporting facilities in Abia can create numerous job opportunities, add value to the GDP, and fast track the economic growth and development of the State.

The philosophy of the nine- team format of the Abia SuperLig,  Dinmiri noted, is to create value chains for the facilities in place, participating teams,  players ,and other stakeholders, including sponsors, which, in turn, will lead to the growth and development of the economy.

“Our case is not just a sporting one, it is a business case. Our mission is to effectively leverage sporting facilities, abundant talents and expertise to grow the GDP, shore up internally generated revenue, and create job opportunities.

“Our existing sporting facilities built with huge resources are not making the needed returns. The National Stadium in Surulere Lagos is a typical example.

“Another is the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja. These facilities built with enormous resources are lying fallow.

“In Abia, the Enyimba  International Stadium and Abia Warriors Stadium are there, under utilized. In a year, ( 365 days) the two stadia are each used for only 19 days to host home NPFL league matches.

“The rest of the days in the whole year are wasted .This is a huge economic waste, not just in terms of the stadium, but clusters of business opportunities.

“Under this scenario, the State is losing, clubs are losing, players are losing, business actors within the system are losing. Above all,the economy is losing.”

Dinmir said that it is against this backdrop that the SuperLig was conceptualized to change the narrative.

“With the Abia SuperLig, there will be 72 matches to be played at the Enyimba and Abia Warriors Stadia in a year. In this case ,we will be increasing the number of days of their usage from the hitherto 19 days to  91 days.

“That also means more value chains being created in the system. And as time goes on, we will improve on the activities through the creation of other sporting events which will also bring in other participants and stakeholders.

“There are many activities that go around the sports industry. What I am talking about is even as little as kit managers .That is a professional job.

“So, all of these we put together in a proposal and there was a Technical Committee that reviewed it and, eventually, we got the nod. Just to prove our commitment to invest, we have decided to build our own sports hall so that it will be a case of practicing what you preach.

“For now, we believe that we have the mechanism that can serve football and use football to drive the economy of Abia State

“That was why we put up the proposal and fortunately for us, a new and receptive Government came on board and decided to partner with us .

“Our interest may be there, but if you have a Government that is unwilling to listen, I don’t think ,we would have been here today.

“So, as it is today, the Government has listened and the onus is on us to respond.” he stated.

According to Dinmiri, the Abia SuperLig is all about releasing value from the State’s sporting infrastructural facilities like the stadia and others.

“Here we have adopted the technicalities of the United States of America Sports Business where there is no relegation and/or promotion of teams in the NBA and NFL .

“What is the reason behind this? It ensures that anybody who bids for one of the nine  participating clubs will still retain their value.

“If a club owner gets tired, he can sell without the value lowering on account of relegation. We have studied the depth of the market and came out with the number of clubs it can carry which is nine for now.”