DSTV Premiership side Royal AM are set to take over Harry Gwala Stadium following the relegation of Maritzburg United to the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
The Team of Choice had utilised the 12 000-seater stadium for the past 15 years, however, their drop to the second tier of South African football has opened the door for Thwihli Thwahla to relocate from the Chatsworth Stadium to Pietermaritzburg.
IOL Sport can exclusively reveal that Msunduzi Municipality is currently engaged in talks to replace Maritzburg with the Pietermaritzburg based Royal AM.
According to a source : “The most recent three year sponsorship agreement between the Msunduzi Municipality and MUFC was due to expire at the end of June 2024.
“Due to the relegation of the MUFC to the National First Division, the current sponsorship agreement will be terminated as one of the conditions of the sponsorship was for the Club to remain in the Premier Soccer League (PSL).”
The Harry Gwala Stadium was initially built as a legacy project during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, is owned by the municipality and has served as the home ground for Maritzburg since 2014.
The municipality feels ‘the stadium is currently maintained according to and meets all the compliance requirements of the PSL - in the absence of a home-ground DStv Premiership team, this stadium runs the risk of being under-utilised to its full potential.
If an agreement is to be reached between the Municipality and Royal AM, the club stands to receive R27 million rand over the course of the contract agreement which is said to be three years.
“The amount for the proposed sponsorship agreement for a period of three years is the amount of Nine Million Rand (R9 000 000) per annum (VAT Exclusive), + CPI in the two (2) outer year's,” the source revealed.
“In addition to the cash sponsorship, the agreement will include the cost for the annual maintenance of the Harry Gwala Stadium in order to keep it in compliance with PSL standards.”