The beauty of football comes out in the most conducive atmosphere. Playing in a well-equipped stadium and on a green turf has characteristically been the game’s modern habitat.

Nonetheless, the stadia in Ghana, arguably save the Ndoum Sports Stadium, have become death traps, hence not propitious to the game of football. With defective scoreboards, malfunctioning floodlights, pale and withered grass, poor sanitary conditions and deplorable structural deficiencies, the enjoyment of our passion by players and spectators is seriously threatened.

For instance, the practice in recent times has been to wait for Black Stars assignments like a World Cup or AFCON qualifier to patch up the defects on the pitches. Unbeknownst to the managers of the facilities and the GFA, this attitude portrays a neglect of the local game and the safety of players in national competitions.

The ongoing GHALCA G8 preseason tournament which started about two weeks ago bears credence to the hampering of quality displays and players’ well-being. At the recently constructed Cape Coast stadium where Hearts of Oak beat Karela SC by a goal to nil, the condition of the field was not favorable. Although Hearts were victors on the day, the Phobians’ gaffer, Frank Nuttall, complained about the bad nature of the field as having adverse effects on player performance and the match in general.

The good thing about his displeasure regarding the turf is that it cannot be construed as an excuse for a loss. However, it is an indictment on the lack of proactivity regarding the management of footballing facilities. Unarguably, many players have sustained avoidable injuries due to the inconvenient fields they play on around the country.

Given the aforementioned, the cycle of knee-jerk solutions to longstanding and recurrent problems must be a thing of the past. Instead of periodically contracting Mr Frank Boahene’s Green Grass Technology (GGT) to prepare the green turf at national stadia for Black Stars matches, a more pragmatic approach will be to contract the company to regularly maintain the edifice. Since clubs who use the national stadia pay huge sums from their matchday gate proceeds to the National Sports Authority, part of these funds must be channeled into the frequent and efficient maintenance of the facilities.

One of the innovative ways employed around the world (the United States, England, and Germany among others) for the management of stadia is the commercialization of the names (known as naming rights). Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising whereby a corporation or other entity purchases the right to name a facility or event, typically for a defined period of time (Wikipedia). The contractual relationship can range from 3 to 20 years.

We can cite Ford Field in the U.S., in England, there is the Emirates Stadium and the Etihad while in Germany; we can talk of the Allianz Arena, just to mention a few. The purchase of such rights by these companies for stipulated periods of time has ensured that the grounds are run as efficiently as possible while marketing the brands concerned. Notwithstanding the fact that it is important to honour our national (sports) heroes, simply naming stadia with deteriorating resources after them is short of everything honourable and progressive.

The recent naming of the Tamale Sports stadium after the late former vice president, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, sparked a lot of controversy following the reported sums alleged to have been spent in the process. Without waging into the debates on the deservingness or otherwise of the venture, I think the funds could have served the purpose of keeping the stadium in shape.

By this, I do not imply that the names of heroes be withdrawn or not used at all: of course there is the Giusseppe Meazza in Italy, the Ramon Sanchez and the Santiago Bernabeu in Spain. However, for our peculiar economic conditions, the names of people could be partnered with corporate entities as part of the commercializing of the facilities.

For a burgeoning football economy like Ghana’s, the adoption of naming rights will go a long way to help improve the standards of our sporting amenities. With the presence of top telecommunication brands, oil marketing companies, aviation business, financial institutions and several corporate bodies that thrive on numbers, football provides a great opportunity for leveraging their enterprises. In turn, the local game stands to benefit from the financial investments of these organizations.

And thus, funds from naming rights can be utilized to develop and maintain our sports infrastructure. The association of corporate brands with the game should order us into upholding best practices for the benefit of all stakeholders and revamp the image of the industry. This will make the stadia income-generating and self-sufficient entities that do not rely on sporadic state intervention.

Meanwhile, in the era of global capital, we cannot expect governments to solely drive development across the many sectors of our national life. The innovativeness of citizens and a vigorous pursuit of community responsibilities by corporate bodies have the potential of transforming our motherland and our lives. Let’s keep the conversation going and act now!