Complete Guide on how to set up a football viewing center in Nigeria

Football is not doubt the biggest, most popular and most loved game in the world. Football fans always look for a way to connect to the various clubs or countries they support. Most of them will go to any length so that they don’t miss any of their club’s matches.

Nigeria is no exception to this fact as many Nigerians usually go crazy in support of their various clubs or whenever the Super Eagles (Nigerian National team) have any international match to play.

With the love of football in Nigeria, a football viewing center business is an ideal business that has the potential of yielding much profit.

Football viewing Center business overview

Football viewing centers can be categorized under sports and entertainment industry. A football viewing center is a place where live football matches is shown and football lovers pay a fee ranging from 60 naira to 200 naira to watch a match.

Why you should start a football viewing center

There are many reasons why you should consider starting your own football viewing center business in Nigeria. Below are some of them

• Football stadiums where matches are played cannot accommodate the many fans that the popular game has. There are millions of fans from Africa, Europe, Asia, North and South America who would love to watch matches live but they can’t because even the largest stadium in the world can only accommodate about 90,000 of them. So there is need for fans to look for other means to watch these matches so that they wouldn’t miss out.
• An average football fan in Nigeria may not even be able to afford a satellite TV to watch matches from their favourite clubs, as such; they may choose to look for an alternative to watch the matches. Many of them opt to go to a viewing center instead of visiting friends.
• The love and passion for football in Nigeria is very massive. Even those that have satellite TV in their houses still go to viewing centers to watch matches. They prefer watching matches of their favourite clubs in football viewing centers because it gives them the opportunity to team up with other club fans.
• You should consider starting a football viewing center business because it is an avenue to get rid of unemployment and make cool cash because there is no limit to the amount of money you get and for the fact that it comes daily.

Let’s make a little analysis of how much you stand to gain daily when you start a football viewing center in Nigeria.

Let’s say you charge 100 Naira per match and your viewing center can accommodate about 50 persons. You have the potential of making up to 5000 Naira per match.

In situations where there is more than one match in a day, you stand to make more money. For example, if Liverpool plays against Chelsea by 1pm, Man City against Arsenal by 4pm and Barcelona against Real Madrid by 9pm, that will mean you can make 15,000 Naira in a day.

You can make much more depending on the capacity of the viewing center and the strategy and effort you use for the business.

What you need to start

Football viewing center business is a very lucrative business since 90% of the Nigerian youths love football and can go any length to watch matches of their favourite clubs.

To make enough money to pay your bills and save, there are some things you need to put in place. This lists focus on how you can make profits as a medium scale business owner. Remember you can always expand the business depending on your vision and capital.

1. Have a detailed business plan

A good and detailed business plan is very important for every businessman. Every good business man should have a well-crafted business plan that spells out all what the business is about and how to ensure it becomes successful.

Before you set up a football viewing center business in Nigeria, there is a need for you to take a feasibility study. The feasibility study helps you to understand what the business is all about and helps you know what you what you are getting yourself into.

The feasibility study also helps you understand the cons and pro involved in the business so that you can set up a better strategy to help you make the best out of it.

The business plan should contain a concise guide on how the business would be run and what it takes to make it successful. It should also specify the budget needed to make to run the business for a long period of time.

As part of your business plan, you can visit one or two football viewing centers around you. Note how each of them are run and know how you can improve yours to stand a chance to compete and also outsmart other competitors to make good profit.

It is also important to make a list of equipment you will need and how you can purchase them. You can start by getting the important ones before getting others as the business grows or as you get more funds.

2. A good location

Getting a good location is vital to the success of any business and a football viewing center business is no exception. A location that can be accessible easily by your customers is ideal for the business.

You can get a location in a busy area or close to residential areas so that people coming back from their places of work can get to your viewing centers easily.

3. A suitable space

After you get a good location for your business, there is a need to consider a suitable space. The space can go a long way to determine how much profit you can make form the business. There are three criteria you should consider before choosing a viewing space.

• It should be a place big enough to accommodate all your expected audience. You do not want a place that will make your customers uncomfortable. You should also get a space that has room for expansion so that when you get more customers, they can get space to seat.
• You should also consider the security of the place. The place should be secured during and even after football games. Viewing centers in Nigeria have the tendency for miscreants to cause fight, vandalize properties and other vices. Having a tight security will help control these challenges.
• Get a place where majority of the population would require such services. Statistics shows that youths visit viewing centers more than older people. Your major target should be the youth.

4. Sets of Seats

If you are starting on a low budget, it is advisable to get wooden benches for your viewing center. The wooden benches can be constructed by any professional carpenter for a cheap amount.

Ensure that the carpenters construct benches that will make your customers comfortable. There are some viewing centers that use plastic chairs for their customers. You can only adopt that style when you have enough funds for it.

Remember, you must not start a business big. You can start the business small and then grow it gradually.

5. Source of ventilation

It is expected for a viewing center to be stuffy but when yours is well ventilated, it will make it stand out and make people want to come back.

You can get sets of ceiling fans and standing fans to provide enough ventilation. Only use conditioning systems when you know you can afford them.

The way you arrange the benches will go a long way to ensure smooth passage of air within the environment.

6. Good Televisions

You are required to get at least three good and original televisions which will be used to show the football matches. The size of the television should be put into consideration because the bigger the television, the better the view.

The televisions must not be flashy but plasma is preferable. They should have good sounds and quality pictures display.

When you have enough money and more customers, you can make use of projectors. Projectors give bigger pictures and make it easy for people even at the far end of the place to watch with ease.

7. DSTV decoders

DSTV decoders are the best to get because they have the right to cover almost all the football matches in the world. You can get at least three. It is helpful in cases when two to three football matches are played at the same time.

You must also get the appropriate subscription plan. The plan you get should be able to show competitions like the UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Spanish laliga, French league 1, German Bundesliga, Italian Seria A and so on.

You need a premium subscription to show the listed matches above. It costs around 14,500 Naira only.

8. Source of power

It is well known that the state of power in Nigeria is not stable and unreliable. Depending on the power source from the Government could be very disastrous because there could be a power outage during a match.

It is advisable to forget about power source from the Government and run on generator sets. Get a generator that is capable of powering all your appliances.

If you must use power source form the Government, get an inverter so that you don’t get stranded the middle of a match when there is a power outage. The inverter keeps the appliances running after power shortage until you get a generator.

9. Writing board

This is where you can write a list of upcoming matches for the day. The writing board could be a chalkboard or a whiteboard. It doesn’t matter which it is, the most important thing is the information is clearly written on the board for all to see.

10. Cleaners

You will need to employ the services of cleaners to always tidy the environment. The place is usually littered with pure water nylons, biscuit packs and other snacks.

Regular cleaning and dusting of the appliances will also be necessary. It should be done after each match so that when customers come back, they can meet a clean environment.

11. Tickets

Tickets simply serve as receipts to certify that customers have paid for the services about to be rendered to them. This is important because there are people that will want to play smart and try not to be pay before watching a match.

This also helps for efficient running of the business because it can also serve as a means to know how many people paid to watch a particular football match.

12. Publicity

The last but not the least thing you need to do to is to create proper awareness and publicity for your business. The level of publicity you create for your business will go a long way to announce your football viewing center to members of your immediate community.

Don’t forget to give your customers quality because that is what will make many of them come back after the first day.

you can allow customers and potential customers to watch free football matches for free for the first few days. This will mark you in their good book and will make them want to patronize you.

How to earn extra cash from your football viewing center

There are other things you can also do to earn extra income apart from just showing football matches. These include:

1. Games

Whenever there is no football match to show, you can use the center as a gaming house. There are quite a number of games that young boys like to play. The most popular ones are FIFA and PES.

Youths like game competitions. So, to attract more customers, you can set up PES or FIFA competitions.

2. Food and drinks

Selling food and drinks can serve as a form of entertaining them while they watch the matches. This is another way to earn more money from your viewing center.

Most people come with either friends or family to watch their favorite clubs play. Having meat and drinks will be a good way to entertain their friends as they enjoy the football match.

3. Betting

Gambling could not be said to be legalized or not in Nigeria but setting up a betting shop will help you earn more money.

One of the reasons many people watch matches is to know whether the games they bet on win or lose. Many youths are now into betting which will make you earn more money when they patronize you.

4. Showing of moving

There are periods when most popular clubs will be on break, especially after a full season. During this period, you can convert your viewing center to a mini cinema. You may not charge up to the amount a standard cinema changes.

In conclusion, you can only enjoy football viewing business when it is properly managed. You should put all the necessary things in place to set up a successful football viewing center in Nigeria.

As you grow, think of how you can make the center conducive and comfortable for your customers. When your customers are comfortable and get the best from you, they will have more reasons to always return to you.