South African soccer rights value to increase by 300 p.c.

August 8, 2011

The South African Football Association has increased the value of rights to broadcast the country’s national soccer team’s matches by over 300 percent. Public-service broadcaster SABC are the most recent carriers of the rights, and are reportedly being asked to pay around US$19.3 million to renew its deal.

The association says the rights have increased in value due to the country hosting the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and the recent success of the country’s national team which has led to them rising up the FIFA world rankings.

Discussions are ongoing between the association and SABC since the latest deal expired in March.

Kirsten Nematendani, the president of the association said: “We await a final quotation on the total revenue to be expected by the association through this exciting new venture.”

The rights cover around 60 matches per year played by the South African national teams, including the men’s senior team, the women’s senior team and age-level representative sides.