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The Sports CS has reiterated his stance that the Kenyan top flight will have a broadcast partner as well as a mega sponsorship package
Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba has reiterated his promise that Football Kenya Federation Premier League clubs will receive a major cash windfall from next season.
Namwamba said that the government, alongside the federation, have put together a major package that will come alongside the live broadcast of the league, starting next season, which will not only benefit the clubs but the whole Kenyan football ecosystem.
“During one football game, there is a guy who marks the pitch, the is a guy who provides security, another ne sells tickets and others sell smokies. It is a whole ecosystem and when you close that ecosystem, it devastates so many incomes,” Namwaba said during an interview on Homeboyz Radio.
“That is besides the player who earns from playing and the coach who earns from coaching. It was important that we just get football back and so we got the league back. The league that is just concluding has been a crush programme league because we started it in the middle of the season but we wanted it back.
“In my first full season in office, the season starting in August is going to be a proper league season. We have worked out a programme on how the season is going to kick off but most importantly, I am very happy to inform the people of Kenya that we have already sorted the live broadcast issue.
“Kenya is going to have an official live broadcaster starting the new season and running alongside the live broadcast, is a mega sponsorship package because we must have an arrangement where every club participating in the Kenyan Premier League know that at a minimum, there is a guaranteed income.
“We have put together a sponsorship package that will guarantee every club a minimum amount whether you finish first or last in the league. That package is going to spread to other levels of the league.”
The Kenyan top flight has not been televised since Chinese firm StarTimes terminated its sponsorship with Football Kenya Federation (FKF) in November 2021 over what they termed ‘breach of contract.’
The seven-year deal was worth Sh122.4 million ($1.1 million) a year, signed on September 29, 2020, with the firm granted exclusive TV and digital broadcast rights for the top-flight.
FKF has been trying to woo a number of broadcasters with Namwamba at one point claiming that South African firm SuperSport, which left Kenya in 2017, was showing signs of returning but nothing has come to note.
However, events of last month when Tanzanian broadcaster Azam beamed live two FKF-PL matches; the Tuker FC vs Kariobangi Sharks tie as well as the Mashemeji derby between eternal rivals Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards points to what could be cooking. It is, however, still not known who is behind the sponsorship package promised by Namwamba.
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