by Thinus Ferreira
The South African public broadcaster and the South African Football Association (SAFA) have renewed their SABC football broadcast deal for another 4 years that will include all SAFA matches and events.
The SABC refused to divulge the cost of the 4-year contract which will run through 2028 although the financial terms of deals like these - especially not with a publicly funded broadcaster - isn't and should be any secret.
"It's my great honour to announce that SAFA and the SABC have renewed their partnership that has held us in good stead for the past 32 years and that has allowed South Africans to be part of the football journey. We have an agreement in place for another 4-year cycle," Nomsa Chabeli, SABC CEO said at an announcement at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters.
"What's exciting about this new cycle is also that it's not just limited to the senior teams, for example Bafana Bafana. It's also got the Banyana Banyana matches and the women's Hollywoodbets Super League."
"For me personally I love that we are going to be able to showcase grassroots leagues, which are critical for this country in terms of people coming out in numbers and playing and the future stars of football in South Africa, and also having the opportunity to play globally."
Nomsa Chabeli refused to say what the SABC's new 4-year deal with SAFA was worth.
"From the SABC's perspective, we don't discuss the contents of our contracts. That's important because they're confidential, but broadcast deals help maintain the sporting ecosystem" she said.
"We're bringing in the audiences and once you bring in audiences you're bringing in other sponsors. SAFA is then able to package a proposition and go on and sell it to commercial sponsors who are looking for rights and opportunities to leverage their presence and to target the audiences the SABC is bringing to this."
"This partnership is not about rands and cents. It's also about the SABC giving universal access to all South Africans to be part of this. t has to be looked at in terms of a bigger, national issue rather than just how much is exchanging hands."
She said the SABC's broadcasting deals for Rugby Championship matches between South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina in August and September will be announced soon should the broadcaster have anything in place.
Danny Jordaan, SAFA president, said "If your matches have no broadcast, your value of those matches and your properties are of a lesser value than when it is exposed on national television. That is the important thing. I'll calculate that and then come back about the monetary worth. It's a complicated calculation but ultimately we have to bring the figures."
Keletso Totlhanyo, SABC head of sports, said the renewed SAFA deal with the SABC will include broadcasting "Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana matches and all SAFA events".
"We'll still continue the Bafana team announcements here at the SABC, and we are going to have a weekly magazine programme where we are going to cover everything about South African football."
"We'll also give SAFA sponsors the opportunity to tell us about their involvement and relationship with SAFA."
"It will also give us the opportunity to cover more of the development side of football and where possible we will be streaming these matches from the provinces on SABC+, but definitely live matches of Bafana, Banyana, Abantwana [South African women's U-17s], and Hollywoodbets still every Sunday on SABC1."
