All of us Bok supporters are keen to file 2016 under the ‘nightmare’ category and move swiftly along, and the three test thumping of the French earlier this year has some here at home quietly optimistic.

I don’t want to say too much about the 34-man Springbok squad for the start of the Rugby Championship, but I don’t know what Allister was smoking when he decided to omit the likes of Ruan Combrinck and Rohan Janse van Rensburg.

Anyway we are here to crunch the numbers regarding FNB and MTN’s sponsorship dealings with the Boks, with the bank announcing their new deal yesterday.

BusinessTech with the details:

FNB has agreed a three-year partnership which will see the bank’s logo appear on the back of the Springbok jersey above the playing number.

It is understood that the contract will be worth R20 million a year to SA Rugby until 2020.

The partnership was launched at Montecasino at Fourways in Johannesburg on Monday and follows the headline sponsorship deal mobile operator, MTN, signed with SA Rugby earlier this year valued at a reported R50 million annually.

So R20 million a year for FNB to have a logo on the back of the jersey, and R50 million for MTN to be the headline sponsor. Neither of those is small change, even when you consider how they fleece the public via bank charges and mobile data.

It is reported that ABSA’s departure as main sponsor left a R90 million “hole in the budget”, so you don’t want to waste time plugging that deficit.

FNB’s name will appear on the Springbok playing jersey for the first time in the Rugby Championship against Argentina in Port Elizabeth on August 19.

If we don’t win that one, it could be a very long tournament.

[source:businesstech]