Kickoff
:
August 27 will see a massive party in Green Point as Cape Town Stadium hosts four PSL teams in one night of football action.
Morne du Plessis, the chairperson of SAIL STADEFRANCE, the operators of the Cape Town Stadium, said the "party" would feature the Cape Town kick off of the Absa Premiership season with a double-header.
Although Du Plessis was confident the double header would take place, the PSL are a little more cautious saying they will meet with the authorities on Tuesday to finalise some issues.
KickOff.com can confirm the matches on show will be Ajax Cape Town against Bloemfontein Celtic and Vasco da Gama against Orlando Pirates.
Du Plessis goes on to say they are in the middle of discussions with the three Cape Town top-flight clubs about the continued use of the stadium.
“We are right in the middle of these talks. I can’t say how far we are, but the clubs all believe they must have a consistent home venue,” he says.
“The question is which team will play at Cape Town Stadium and how to manage the costs because each club has fifteen home matches and not all of them are big games that naturally attract large crowds. That’s the tricky part.”
KickOff.com understands that the cost of hiring the venue for match day is well over the R200 000 mark, which is a considerable amount more than hiring Athlone or Newlands Stadium.
But on the flipside is that by playing in Green Point, the clubs have a great opportunity to attract new spectators, feed off the enthusiasm created by the World Cup and grow their brands.
Besides the PSL double-header bonanza, other Cape Town events in the pipeline include amongst others a Bafana Bafana match.
“We are engaging talks with Safa about a Fifa specified date in November, which gives us the chance to host Bafana Bafana,” Du Plessis says.
A football charity match is penciled in for December while on the rugby front, a pre-season warm-up between Guinness Premiership club Saracens and the Stormers as well as plans to host a Tri-Nations match next year and Varsity Cup matches are on the cards. Du Plessis confirmed the final attendance figures for Cape Town Stadium during the Soccer World Cup.
