SA Tourism set to sponsor Tottenham Hotspur for nearly R1bn

The proposed deal would run over three years and cost £42.5 million (around R900 million depending on the exchange rate).

It would start at the beginning of the 2023/24 season and through to the end of the 2026/27 campaign.

For the princely sum, SA Tourism would receive branding on the kit, interview backdrop branding at home games, matchday advertising, a partnership announcement and free access to tickets and stadium hospitality at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the duration of the partnership.

The club would also use South Africa as a base to conduct pre-season training camps.

SA Tourism is also looking at adding performance-based incentives to guard against the unlikely scenario that Spurs are relegated from the Premier League during the arrangement but would also mean they would have to pony up even more cash if Tottenham performed above stated expectations.

While SA Tourism acknowledges it would take a huge portion of their budget if the deal were to go through, it argues that it would result in a proportional increase in tourism to South Africa.

"As entering into a sponsorship partnership with Tottenham Hotspur will likely result in a disproportional contribution (of more than 36%) towards the achievement of primary objective (21 million tourist arrivals), it would therefore be completely justifiable for SA Tourism spending a disproportional percentage of its annual marketing budget (36%) on the proposed Tottenham Hotspur partnership while having in place a risk management strategy to properly manage all risks associated with that," the department said.