Rayon Sports and SKOL, the club’s sponsor are yet to agree on an improved sponsorship package of Rwf300 million that the club wants. The nine-time league champions in 2017 signed a five-year sponsorship deal with the Belgian Brewer of Rwf 60 million a year but the club last month issued a communique saying that they had written to SKOL management activating a clause in the agreement to revisit the deal after three years. Rayon Sports officials also argued that the club deserved a bigger sponsorship package deal due to their huge fan base and the returns SKOL was making from their deal. Sadate Munyakazi, the club President told Times Sports on Sunday that the club wrote to SKOL asking for feedback about their new demands but there hasn’t been any positive feedback since. Munyakazi warned that the club will terminate the contract with the brewer if nothing is done and revealed that the board will engage other corporate companies who have shown interest in partnering with the club. He refused to name the companies that have expressed interest in sponsoring the club. “The chances of continuing our partnership with SKOL are fading because the sponsor has been lacking commitment to extend the contract,” Munyakazi revealed. “Rwf 300 million would be a fair deal for both of us. If they can pay the same amount to sponsor a Cycling tournament which lasts only a week, I don’t see any reason why they can’t pay the same amount to a team that agrees to partner with them for a whole season,” he added. Munyakazi sees SKOL’s delays in holding discussions over contract renewal as a ‘waste of time’ because the brewer does not elaborate a clear reason they are delaying to agree to a new deal. He said “They pay for the service we give them, they need something from us [Rayon] and we submitted our contract proposal to them so that they revisit the value of the service we give them. If they don’t appreciate the club’s impact to their business, then we are good to terminate our contract and part ways,” he said. He revealed the club had planned to issue SKOL 15 days to give us a response on our proposal but we have extended that due to the preventive measures against the Coronavirus pandemic. “But, when the situation becomes stable, we will resume the process before we decide to look for other options. We have other sponsorship options on the table but I cannot reveal them at the moment,” he said.
