A BURDEN was lifted off the shoulders of the Fiji Sports Council yesterday, when the Home Finance Company (HFC) Bank of Fiji formally renewed its naming rights sponsorship of the national stadium in Suva.
These were the sentiments of Fiji Sports Council CEO Gilbert Vakalalabure, who shared how the bank had stepped in to continue holding the naming rights mantle once more, this time for 10 years.
“We have been in so many burdens for the last few years, and I would like to say thank you very much for that (naming rights extension),” Vakalalabure told journalists yesterday.
HFC Bank has renewed their sponsorship for the next 10 years, valued at $700,000 per annum, subject to a review after five years.
It is a significant step forward for them since the bank initially sponsored them for three years, after formally signing it into effect on July 1, 2022 and had expired on June 30 this year.
Vakalalabure emphasised how significant HFC’s renewal of trust in the council would be.
“We’re just going to take away our burden for the next 10 years and we hope that our agreement will stay forever but it moves ahead (more) than 10 years.”
With the signing, he also urged the media’s understanding in the upkeep of the ground at the stadium in recent months, which had been documented by the media and scrutinised by the public.
“I think in the last two months, there had been a lot of complaints in regard to the standard of the grounds.”
He referred to the ground’s condition as a “tired” one, adding they could not do anything to fix the condition of it since “we have to pay our debt, we have to use the ground.”
“There is no other thing that we have to be able to get our money from to be able to pay them,” he said.
He revealed earlier this year that the FSC is paying a $9m debt.
Meanwhile, the bank’s continued sponsorship of the stadium’s naming rights has been remarked by its chief executive Rakesh Ram as its longest and highest.