Football Viewing Center Business in Nigeria: How Profitable is it Really?

In this article you’ll learn the intricacies of operating a football Viewing Center in Nigeria:

• The various operational and maintenance cost

• Understanding the key factors that determine profit or loss in the business

• Understanding how to manage the business in your area

I guess by you clicking to read this article means you want to know exactly how much one can make out of operating a football viewing center in Nigeria. Well, Nigerians haven’t stop being passionate about football nor have they turn around their culture. So the demand for viewing center is still high across the country.

It could be eye budging if you look at the numbers, but then it depends largely on how you understand and manage the business. Like most small businesses in Nigeria, I’ve seen some viewing centers that started up passionately but after a year or two the management had to close shop; the business is dead as a dude – RIP!

Perhaps, the managers didn’t realize that viewing center business has high operational and maintenance cost and should be managed in such a way that ensures breakeven and profitability.

Operational Cost

Now let’s look at the various operational cost of a standard Viewing Center:

1.     Fueling Generator: With the epileptic electricity power supply across the country, Viewing Centers will have to run more on generator, yet would still have to pay exorbitant estimated bills.

Fueling the generator with either PMS or diesel cost a lot, especially if not regulated.

2.     Paying DSTV Subscriptions: Monthly DSTV subscription is another operational cost you can’t set aside. A monthly subscriptions cost between N16, 000 to N24, 000, depending on the package.

3.     Paying Premises Rent: If you are operating from a rented property, a hall or enclosed space, you would have to pay a monthly or yearly rent that may run into half a million (N500, 000) per year depending on the area.

4.     Paying Multiple Taxes: Another operational cast that may eat deep into your business revenue is multiple taxes, especially the kind paid in Lagos state including: Excise tax, Value Added Tax, Environmental sanitation tax, business premises tax…

These and other miscellaneous expenditure make up the operational cost.

 Maintenance Cost

Apart from operational cost, maintenance cost is something many Viewing Center operators overlook, but usually eat deep into the business revenue, if not well managed. Maintenance cost includes:

1.     Repair of Furniture: The nature of Viewing Center business is such that fans unconsciously leap for joy when a goal is scored; some jump on top of the chairs while other even carry the chairs around in celebration.

So after each match view, there are likely to be broken furniture that would immediate repairs.

2.     Repair of Electrical Appliances: If you allow fans to freely tamper with the electrical appliances such as: TV Set, Fans or even Switches and Sockets in the Viewing Center, then there would be need for more repairs, which translates to avoidable cost.

3.     Sanitations: of course, you can really avoid this one, after every match there should be a lot of debris littered around and perhaps, stains on the walls. So there should be a paid staff on standby to clean the venue regularly. Painting of the venue may be required twice a year or so.

Management by Objective

Operating a viewing center require some level of managerial skills like any other business. If you are fond of allowing friends and kilns to gain free entrance and free access to appliances in the Viewing Center, be sure your business will soon go down – that’s Business 101 Principle.

• You may consider showing only matches that has the potentials of attracting large number of fans to the center. Running generator on a match that have just few people at the center may be very  expensive if you calculate cost/ revenue per head.

• You must find a way to control usage of appliances and furniture at the center. If possible, you may consider purchasing immovable steel chairs instead of the long wooden forms found in most Viewing centers. (Plastic chairs or upholstery are not advisable at all..

• Running Generator should be controlled. Perhaps, Switch on 15minutes before the match and immediately switch off after the match… except there are series of top rated matches. In that case, viewers may not be allowed to pay once like a “Double Header” payment structure at stadiums.

• Finally, I think it would be wise for you to have some form of book keeping. Perhaps, engage an  accountant on part time basis to come-in from time to time to regulate and analyze the financial status of the business and what corrections to make on time to savage any sign of run down.

Indeed, if you manage Football Viewing Center properly, you will find out that it is a very lucrative and reliable business that has very product life cycle potentials. You could be making revenue between N50, 000 to N100, 000 per week, depending on the time of the season and the capacity of the viewing center.