Mashemeji Derby gate collection highlights key area Kenyan game needs to strengthen

For some time now, the Kenyan Premier league has been seen languishing on its death bed.

Top flight premier league games, leave alone lower tier matches, have been going on barely noticed by the larger public who have continued to show a lack of interest in the game owing to various factors best known to them.

But over the weekend, in the 92nd edition of the Mashemeji Derby staged at the Nyayo National Stadium, a glimmer of hope was once again injected into the local game as an encouraging number of fans turned up for the fierce rivalry between AFC Leopards and record Kenyan champions Gor Mahia, leading to an admirable gate collection by Leopards who were the home team.

Going by the numbers released by the club on Tuesday, slightly over ten thousand matchday tickets were sold (461 VIP @1000 and 9565 regular @300) which led to the team raking in a total of 3,330,500 shillings minus expenses.

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While a club generates its income from various sources such as membership fees, gate collections, merchandise fees, business/individual contributions, the FKF Premier League and broadcast deals, the latest sum from the gate collection went a long way in showing just how much the Kenyan game can benefit in getting fans to go back to the stadiums as witnessed in yester years.

Taking the AFC Leopards three-year shirt sponsorship into account, for example, shows how much there is value to be gotten from gate collections.

In the three-year deal with the gaming firm, Ingwe receive a total of 195 million shillings which comes to about 65 million in one year. Broken down further, that amount comes to about 5.4 million on average per month.

If Nyayo stadium was perhaps twice as full with the same numbers provided by Leopards, the amount received would have been near, if not over the sum, they get on a monthly basis from their sponsorship deal.

Imagine a situation where the club would be able to generate such an amount purely from its gate collections. Would that not go a long way in getting the league back to its feet with proper leaders at the helm?

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On paper, the idea seems easier said than done as execution has always proven to be a huge stumbling block.

But if the latest Mashemeji Derby is anything to go by, the Kenyan game only needs to focus on one thing – fans.