SABC and SAFA renew football contract for another 4 years but want to keep broadcast deal price tag a secret.

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."

With a Bafana blackout on the SABC as negotiations between the public broadcaster and Safa broke down and devolves in nasty mudslinging, SuperSport steps in and says it will broadcast Saturday's Afcon qualifier match to all DStv subscribers.

While the South African Football Association (Safa) and the SABC engage in trashy mudslinging after negotiations failed over the broadcast of upcoming Bafana Bafana Afcon matches resulting in a blackout of South Africa's national football team on the public broadcaster, SuperSport has stepped in saying it will broadcast Saturday's match between South Africa and the Seychelles and will be making it available to all DStv subscribers.

In a statement SuperSport says South Africa's vital Africa Cup of Nations qualifier match again the Seychelles on Saturday will be broadcast live on Saturday on SuperSport, and that in an unprecedented move, MultiChoice and SuperSport will make the match available to all DStv subscribers.

Saturday's match between Bafana Bafana and the Seychelles will be broadcast live on SuperSport 4 (DStv 204) and SuperSport 10 (DStv 210), with kickoff at 15:00. SuperSport says that "scheduling the Soweto match across all DStv packages will ensure that as many football fans as possible view the crucial clash".

SuperSport's announcement comes after the ugly implosion of negotiations, followed by as nasty war of words between Safa and the SABC over the broadcasting rights.


Safa says ...
Safa, that started negotiations with the SABC in October 2017, slammed the South African public broadcaster in a statement for the failure to conclude a broadcasting rights agreement, saying the SABC made a "discourteous offer" regarding what the SABC is willing to pay for the broadcasting rights to international football matches Bafana Bafana is playing in inside South Africa.

"Safa rejected this offer outright, and places on record that the offer is so minuscule that it amounts to an effective no offer," says Safa in a statement.

"It is interesting to note that even the apartheid-run SABC of old made a better offer to the association for their rights in this country. Safa further notes that the SABC recently concluded deals with the English Premier League (EPL) to broadcast British football in this country, and on 25 September announced a deal with Cricket South Africa (CSA) to broadcast the T20 League in Sub-Saharan Africa which will include South Africa."

"Safa has been repeatedly told by SABC management that it is in no position to conclude a contract whilst it is in a financial state of disarray."

"However, it is now patently clear that the SABC actions over the past few weeks in signing deals with EPL and CSA, is calculated towards engineering the financial downfall of Safa, which the association will not stand for," says Safa in its statement.

"It is common cause that there is no other sport in South Africa that draws a larger TV audience attendance than Bafana Bafana - in excess of 4 million viewers regularly."

"It is also regrettable that the nation and the football loving public missed out on a great opportunity to witness Banyana Banyana defend their Cosafa title recently."

"Safa offered the SABC the matches (including the final) at no cost, whilst negotiations were taking place - but the SABC declined," says Safa.

"Safa has written to both the SABC and the broadcasting regulator Icasa and informed the ministry of sport and recreation and the ministry of communications, that it wishes the SABC and Icasa to issue Safa with a letter that will relieve the SABC of its obligations towards sports of national interest - football in particular - which would consequently allow SAFA to conclude an agreement with another broadcaster for the Safa rights in line with the commercial value Safa attributes to such rights."

"It is common cause now that Safa, in good faith, allowed the broadcast of the last Afcon qualifier versus Libya to be broadcast by the SABC, despite there being no contract in place - but on the promise and agreement that a contract would be concluded prior to the next Bafana Bafana Afcon qualifier, being the Seychelles match at FNB Stadium on Saturday, 13 October 13 at 15:00."

"With the SABC showing no meaningful interest in concluding an agreement on terms and conditions that would give respect to the Safa rights, the association regrets to inform the public that all future international football matches involving national teams - the U/23, U/20 and U/17 - as well as regional football championships run by Safa, will not be broadcast on any SABC platforms," Safa says in its statement.

According to Safa, the matches in question, among others are all Bafana Bafana 2019 Afcon qualifiers, home and away; all Bafana Bafana 2022 World Cup qualifiers, home and away; all Bafana Bafana international friendly matches; the annual Nelson Mandela Challenge, involving Bafana Bafana; all Banyana Banyana matches; all U/20 international matches; the ABC Motsepe National Play Off final; the SAB National Championships final; the Sasol League Women's National play-offs final and the U/19 Men's National Championship final.


The SABC says ...
The SABC in a statement says it has "noted the statement by Safa" and that the SABC "made a commercially-viable offer that would enable the SABC to deliver football matches to South African audiences on SABC platforms and this offer was rejected by Safa".

"On the previous contract there were obligations and milestones which the SABC has met, including the payment milestones of that contract, albeit late given the SABC's dire financial situation."

The SABC says "the outstanding Safa obligations due to the SABC from the previous contract are the two remaining 2019 Afcon qualifier matches which are the Bafana Bafana versus Seychelles match on 13 October and the Bafana Bafana versus Nigeria match on 17 November."

"The Seychelles versus Bafana Bafana match scheduled for 16 October will be broadcast by the SABC since these rights do not reside with Safa."

"With reference to Safa allowing the SABC to broadcast the last Afcon qualifier match, Bafana Bafana versus Libya, we contend that the broadcast of the match had nothing to do with a promise of a new agreement but was based on the payment milestone which the SABC has since met from the previous contract."

"The SABC's financial position is a known fact and has been made public by the SABC, despite this, the SABC has ensured that it met all its financial obligations to Safa. The SABC is therefore prepared to broadcast the two remaining 2019 Afcon qualifiers."

"It is unfortunate that the SABC and Safa legal dispute is in the public domain but the SABC remains committed to engaging Safa on fair terms," says the SABC.


War of words as SABC is chased from FNB Stadium
Meanwhile the SABC, its journalists and vehicles have been chased away from Soweto's FNB Stadium.

Chris Maroleng, SABC chief operating officer (COO), said the SABC had already deployed an outside broadcasting (OB) van to the FNB Stadium in Soweto "and did this in good faith, anticipating we would be able to broadcast. However Safa denied us access to the venue and we have returned out equipment to our headquarters".

Safa slammed the SABC and Chris Maroleng's claims, saying "there were no SABC OB trucks at the stadium. There were one or two SABC cars but not OB trucks at the gate that were turned away. Anyway had they arrived, they would have been turned away in any case".

"Safa finds it surprising that there has been talk of good faith when there has been no contact with SAFA by the SABC since the last communication. In any event, there is no contract between Safa and the SABC, so why were trucks allegedly sent to the FNB Stadium when the SABC insists, 'No contract, no broadcast'?"


SABC only offered to pay R10 million
Danny Jordaan, Safa CEO, on Thursday evening in an interview on SABC radio with Robert Marawa, revealed the SABC only offered to pay R10 million for the rights that decreased from an initial R150 million.

"If broadcasting money diminishes from R150 million to R10 million you can see the implications," said Danny Jordaan.

"This is the offer we received from the SABC. The recently expired TV deal was set at R110 million and Safa made a new offer of R200 million."

The SABC then countered by offering to pay just R10 million.

"Rugby gets R2.8 billion over 5 years [R560 million per year], while cricket gets R1.24 billion [R248 million per year] where football must get R50 million per year."

"When the SABC was under apartheid we used to get R37 million, so it's just unthinkable," said Danny Jordaan. "So now we have to approach government to say release us from this agreement as we have offers from outside the country who want to pay us in dollars."

SABC, South African Football Association confirm that the public broadcaster will show the national football team's 2019 Afcon qualifier against Libya on Saturday on SABC1.

The SABC on Thursday confirmed that despite problems with the South African Football Association (Safa) that the South African public broadcaster on Saturday will broadcast the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier match between the South African national football team, Bafana Bafana, and Libya.

It comes after a drawn-out payment dispute between Safa and the SABC with the public broadcaster that owes the football organisation millions of rands in non-payment, and with both organisations who have been at loggerheads over ongoing broadcasting rights of Bafana matches.

Safa gave the SABC an ultimatum to either pay a third of the R50 million owed in the previous overdue contract, or face a complete blackout.

Danny Jordaan, Safa president, and members of the SABC board met on Wednesday night to try and hammer out a resolution but the crisis was only resolved on Thursday.

Neo Momodu, SABC spokesperson told the soccer site KickOff that the upcoming 2019 Afcon qualifier on Saturday between Bafana Bafana and Libya at the Moses Mabhinda stadium in Durban will be broadcast on SABC1. The kick-off time of the game is 15:00.

"Yes, we will be broadcasting it live on SABC1, including all of our African language radio stations, as well as Radio 2000," Neo Momodu said.

"I don't know if you can call it a problem or a challenge or whatever you wanna call it. Discussions between SABC and Safa, they are still ongoing. What is relevant to the SABC at this stage is the fact that they will be getting the game," Neo Momodu said.

The match will also be broadcast on SuperSport on Saturday at 15:00.

Danny Jordaan, Safa president in a statement late on Thursday said "we are pleased to announce that we have resolved the outstanding issues and I would like to thank the SABC in making sure that the nation will watch their favourite sport on the national broadcaster."

"I would also like to thank the ministries of sport and recreation and communications for working hard to resolve this matter."