Stadium remains the goose that laid the golden eggs with socio- economic potential in any given community if put to proper use.

Just a few days ago, the remodeled Lekan Salami sports complex was reopened and commissioned amid much funfare in the presence of some important personalities and dignitaries. And here is a counter response to popular opinion especially from the opposition parties, the question that hangs in the air is a rather simple one.

What are the Economic Benefits of the remodeled Lekan Salami Stadium?

It is a known fact that economy and sport are interlinked, which implies that the development of the sports sector has a huge impact on the economy.

Without mincing words, the best place to start is to highlight the conventional methods and avenues through which stadium and sporting arenas can generate revenue to boost the economy of Oyo State in general.

Firstly, it is generally believed globally that,  the main source of income for Sport Arenas is the ticket sales. The people who attend sporting activities pay to watch events. Football matches remain the biggest source of revenue for the host. Therefore, Lekan Salami Sports Complex’s revenue generation will be marginally increased due to the new sporting facilities installed.

Apart from the tickets sales, there are other opportunities such as hiring out the stadium for special events such as private parties, conferences and wedding among others. Also, leasing the venue for sports entity seeking to stage its game at the Stadium and pay for the usage of the premises. A perfect example is in England where Leeds United Football Club pay certain amount of money annually in rent to use Elland Road as its Home Stadium.

Another angle to focus on source of revenue for the State is high income from television broadcasting rights, commercial advertisements, sponsorship and endorsements at the events.

Asides the local clubs, National team games will be hosted by the Stadium and this will attract more crowds. With it’s modern and standard facilities, Lekan Salami Stadium which has been remodeled to meet the international and FIFA standards can effectively compete with any stadium globally.

The Stadium can be a preferred choice hosting center for continental and intercontinental tournaments thus, widen its pool for raking in revenues from ticket sales.

The world-class facilities  at the stadium will attract tourism to the State, increase local spending and create jobs for the general public. In all, visitors will also take time to visit other tourist attractions within the State.

During every national and intercontinental games, there will be a lot of movement around the city of Ibadan and the neighbouring cities. It helps to develop strong social bonds that leads to safer communities. This, will in turn, also boost the transportation sector in Oyo State.

In addition, the facility would boost the local economy, hotels, restaurants, eateries, recreation clubs and other event centers will definitely get vast patronage from the visitors due to the array of activities that sporting events in Adamasingba Stadium will be hosting.

Moreover, Lekan Salami Sports Complex will boost employment opportunities in Oyo State. There will be more businesses especially in the area of sports where people will be making money. It will aid effective community development that will help reduce problems such as crime and increases opportunities for growth.

The stadium will have a positive impact on the housing market, both in terms of property values and renting around the stadium arena.

As the opposition parties continue their irrational criticisms about the Governmental activities in the State, Governor Makinde is making history with his visionary developmental projects that people of Oyo State and Nigerians will reckon with in many years to come.

The huge investment by the State Government suggests that the economic returns of the sport facilities would be quite large, hence the justification to use sports development as IGR to boost economic growth of Oyo State.

Finally, the spirit of unification in healthy competition would light up the city of Ibadan and resonates globally because Gov. Seyi Makinde is making the people of Oyo State proud by embarking on such laudable project which came out to be one of the best in Sub – Saharan Africa.

Ibraheem Raheem Olalekan, writes from Akinyele Local Government Ibadan, Oyo State.