By Our Reporter
The Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations last week entered a long-term partnership with Next Media Services, which was announced at a press briefing at the Next Media Park in Naguru.
The new partnership sees Next Media Services earn exclusive broadcast and digital rights for all major basketball competitions run by the Federation of Uganda Basketball Association (FUBA) – from top tier national basketball leagues for both the men and women to the lower divisions, schools’ events and more.
Speaking at the launch of the partnership, Next Media’s Chief of Strategy, Joseph Kigozi, said, “Today is the start of something great, a big step for us as Next Media and also for the game of Basketball. Partnerships are very important for the growth of any sport. There is a testimony with what we have done with the StarTimes Uganda Premier League for the three years we have been in it, and we are still growing.”
“Now we want to shift the guns towards developing Basketball because it speaks to so many young people, is a pretty cool game, and has produced huge stars worldwide and locally,” Kigozi added.
FUBA president, Nasser Sserunjogi, re-echoed Kigozi’s sentiments, stating, “This partnership provides us an outlet for Basketball to take its place in our communities that have been starved of the action for long. We have a huge basketball community within the country, but we have not been able to tap into that, which I believe we shall now be able to.”
The biggest beneficiaries from the move, one would imagine, will be the players. Flavia Oketcho, arguably Uganda’s single-most decorated player, said, “As a player, I am so excited because what we look to do is not only play the game of basketball, but to also change the lives of young girls and boys, and with the coverage that comes with a partnership with such a huge media group, more inspiring and positive stories can be told far and wide.”
FUBA activities now join, among others, the StarTimes Uganda Premier League on the journey to making sports big in Uganda through the Next Media ecosystem.
