01:27 GMT 28th September 2011
As the game between Arsenal and Liverpool progresses, there is a loud exchange of banter as drinks are ordered and bets are waged.
The above scenario is replicated in hundreds of other "viewing centres" all over Nigeria and elsewhere.
Created in 1992 to replace the old First Division, the Premier League has become the world's most lucrative domestic football competition as well as commanding the most followers.
The Premier League was set up as a way for the big clubs to earn more money. It has succeeded in doing so beyond imagination. In 1992 the 22 First Division clubs earned between them $280m as against the $3 .6bn accrued by the 20 Premier League clubs at the end of the 2010-2011 season. Television rights account for $2.1 bn of this. The next highest grossing league was the German Bundesliga at $2.3bn.
Inevitably, the lure of big wages and stateof- the-art infrastructure has attracted many of the game's biggest players from across the world, including Africa, to the Premier League. Last season, players of 67 nationalities featured for clubs whose owners are also equally international, hailing from as far afield as India, Thailand and North America.
It is these ingredients that have made the English Premier League irresistible for milI ions of soccer fans across the globe, which is why as soon as one season ends, they are looking forward to the next one to begin with relish.
Now four months after Manchester United won its record 19th league title, the new season is underway with all the attendant razzmatazz. Football enthusiasts in Africa can now look forward to seeing their national team players in action on a weekly basis at viewing centres like Marco's Place.
Chelsea, for instance, boasts the services of four African players who rank among the creme de la creme of the continent, and have made a lasting impression on the English top flight game. Veteran Cote d'Ivoire striker, Didier Drogba, is the London club's talisman, while Ghana ace Michael Essien, currently ruled out for six months due to a knee injury sustained in pre-season, has been their mid-field heartbeat. Nigeria's John Mikel Obi offers his services as and when necessary, while Drogba's international teammate, Salomon Kalou, has made some important assists and scored notable winning goals throughout the last few years.
Two other Ivorians, the Toure brothers Kolo and Yaya, are part of the revolution currently going on at Manchester City; Ghana's Asamoah Gyan has been an instant hit with Sunderland fans since joining the club after the 2010 World Cup; the goals of Nigerian striker Osaze Odemwingie explain why West Bromwich Albion is still campaigning in the top flight; while Cameroon's Alexander Song and Cote d'Ivoire's Yao Gervinho are part of Arsene Wenger's ever developing Arsenal.
The English Premier League, said former Nigerian international Adokiye Amiesimaka, is the product of managerial ingenuity strictly guided by international best practice. 'It is because we in this part of the world have simply refused to do the right thing, that is why our youths and even many of these football administrators have abandoned our own league for the Premier League.
'Also by implication, our people, who cannot [afford to] pay to watch local league matches, are indirectly funding the Premier League - either you buy cable TV and install it in your house or you patronise viewing centres, where broadcast viewing rights are paid for. This is where the bulk of the Premier League's profit comes from.
'The Premier League, unlike most ofthe league competitions you find in Africa, is very attractive and that is why it is so popular here,' added Amiesimaka.
But popular as it is, not everybody welcomes it with glee. In England, the Premier League has been criticised for being dominated by the four richest clubs - Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United. Their wealth means they are able to afford the world's best players. This has had a negative effect on clubs in the rest of the league and for the much smaller sides in other divisions.
In Africa, demand for English Premier League matches has had an adverse effect on domestic football. In Nigeria, where the local league has been fashioned along the lines of the Premier League, uncontrolled movement of quality players from Nigeria, coupled with poor packaging in terms of playing facilities and match officiating, ensure fans stay away from the pavilion to watch their favourite English teams on TV.
These are the factors responsible for the unattractiveness of the Premier League in Nigeria and the consequent underpricing of title sponsorship rights by corporate firms.
'Building an attractive and profitable football league is all about putting in place the right structures, entrusting management of the league in the hands of competent people and eschewing corruption, favouritism and nepotism,' Mitchell Obi, vice-chair of Mastersport, a Lagos-based sports marketing firm, told NewsAfrica.
'The last time I checked, a company had won sponsorship rights to the Nigeria Premier League with a N4.5bn bid, the biggest in the history of the competition, ~but the sports authorities here had other plans. That winning bid was annulled because a rival company, which was the immediate past sponsor and has powerful government backing, cried foul. That is not the way to run a virile league.'
Multichoice, the South African company, which owns the Dstv cable satellite television, has been able to penetrate the Nigerian market through the acquisition of broadcast rights for the Premier League. Many Nigerians have gone into the viewing centre business, while these days it makes no sense to open a hotel or drinking joint without installing big screen cable satellite television.
In recent years, fights have broken out between rival fans at viewing centres, some resulting in death. 'Fans should always remember that in sport you win some and you lose some,' said Gideon Akinshola, an assistant commissioner of police, who heads security committee of the Nigeria Football Association.
'There is no reason why a competition organised thousands of kilometers away should make people to kill themselves here.'
He added, 'We on our part are talking to owners of viewing centres to maintain the peace because we [police] cannot be everywhere.'
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