by Hezy Odoh

A lot of has been said about the attitude of Nigerians, coming out to watch local sporting events, even football which is the nations most popular sport in the various centers where these sporting events take place and I asked myself, why can’t we package our sporting events to be more attractive and exciting….

I finally got an opportunity to watch the Boxing Match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Saul Canelo Alvarez, no thanks PHCN who denied me the chance to watch it live and satisfy my enthusiasm that had built up weeks leading to this fight.

While I enjoyed as Mayweather pummeled Alvarez in a totally one side bout, I observed a few things and I will like to write this piece from that angle that had to do with the publicity and showmanship that was on display on the night and how we can imbibe most of these concepts into developing not just boxing in Nigeria but sports in general.

A lot of has been said about the attitude of Nigerians, coming out to watch local sporting events, even football which is the nations most popular sport in the various centers where these sporting events take place and I asked myself, why can’t we package our sporting events to be more attractive and exciting like the fight I just watched? Could this be because of the poor marketing and publicity by the organizers or Nigerians don’t like to part with their hard earned money to pay for tickets to see games? Take a look at the Nigerian Football League today. Its always a shame personally for me when I watch the league on supersports and see the number of empty seats which is supposed to be a major source of revenue for these club sides like we see in the major leagues abroad. I doubt most if not all the clubs in Nigeria has an effective marketing team whose job is to see to it that the seats in the arena are fully occupied.

A lot goes into a making a sporting event exciting to fans and that has very much to do with the pre event activities before the main event. Going back to the fight, prior to the main event Mayweather had landed a mega deal said to be worth around $200 Million with CBC. On the contract, Mayweather is expected to give CBC six high profile fights. With this money, Mayweather has been able to bring a whole new dimension to the sports and sports marketing in general in terms of revenue generated from his fights and also the buzz it created literally brought the sporting world to a standstill as the fight was televised to an estimated 1.6billion viewers on Pay per View which brought an estimated $80million asides groung ticket sales. Even persons who had not consciously watched a single boxing game in their life all sat glued to their sets, wondering why the whole world is agog. The celebrity guest list was also amazing as it had stars like Denzel Washington, Jessica Alba, Lil Wayne and Justin Beiber who performed as Mayweather made his way to the ring as well as politicians. For many out there on the night, it just wasn’t about the fight but being part of the experience and that experience you can only get when all hands are on deck.

I watched the Federation Cup finals between Warri Wolves and Enyimba FC and while my house is just a 20mins ride to the stadium, I didn’t feel any excitement around my vicinity that suggested a game of that “magnitude” was going to be staged there, talk more going to the stadium to see the game itself. But I am pretty sure if I was in Vegas on the night, even if I wasn’t a boxing fan, I would be tempted to go and watch the fight because I am pretty sure the experience I will get won’t be just watching two grown men throwing punches at each other.

Our celebrities should also make it a habit to come around for most of these games to add spice to it not just by performing and leaving but sitting at watching the games. After all, they are getting endorsements from these companies that sponsor these events. I watch the US open finals and I saw the likes of Justin Timberlake in the stands. If as an ordinary fan, I see that a Don Jazzy or a Wizkid or an Iyanya on the stand cheering a team like Warri wolves and I am a fan of any of these stars, chances are there that I might begin to tilt towards supporting their team; That is just how it works.

We all need to develop the right attitude and commitment both as fans and organizers towards ensuring that sports grows in Nigeria and I don’t mean just the games itself but also the marketing and revenue aspect of it.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.