There are reports that league body rejected Sh100m per year deal from Bamba Sport.
The Kenyan Premier League (KPL) is grappling with a financial crisis and there are fears the country’s top tier league could grind to a halt in the next few weeks.
Despite the league being beamed live on television every week, the KPL and clubs are getting nothing from match broadcast and the pressure is beginning to show.
First, referees have not been paid for the last four weeks, KPL staff are also owed two month salary arrears and with no monthly grants, the clubs are finding it hard to pay salaries and run operations.
In the mix of all this hardship are reports that KPL rejected a Sh100 million-a-year deal from Bamba Sport opting to tender a new broadcast partner but in the end got nothing after Chinese firm StarTimes withdrew an earlier offer.
The fall-out from the rejected Bamba Sports deal led to the resignation of Ellio Loli as chairman of the KPL Marketing Committee.
The Thika United Chairman resigned from his KPL post last month.
According to sources within KPL who were involved in signing the Bamba Sports deal, the company erred in rejecting the offer.
“When Bamba originally came on board, they were supposed to bridge the gap left by SuperSport’s departure and paid Sh34 million to KPL.
“At the same time, we had also signed a binding deal to allow them take over for the next five years.
“In the new deal, Bamba had offered to give KPL Sh120 million this season. Part of this money (Sh75million) was to have been given to us before the season started.
“Surprisingly, some KPL chairmen rejected the deal and opted to tender for the rights,” said our source.
But KPL Chief Executive Jack Oguda, while admitting the financial challenges, insists they did nothing wrong by rejecting the Bamba Sports deal.
“The governing council declined the Bamba offer due to various reasons among them the desire to produce our own matches and control the quality of the production. That is why we opted for a tender,” he said.
He also defended, the decision to allow MediaPro to produce KPL matches insisting it was part of the partnership deal they signed with LaLiga.
“We signed a three-year partnership deal with LaLiga and the agreement included among other things capacity-building as well production of our matches,” he said.
Oguda insisted they were doing everything possible to get a title sponsor on board to cushion the clubs, but insisted the league will not grind to a halt.
“The monthly grant clubs were receiving amounted to just Sh8 million per year.
“They had other sources of income and so there should be no reason for them to skip matches.
“As for the referees, we have made a commitment to pay them once funds are available,” he said.
With the growing uncertainty over the financial position of the KPL, a number of clubs have expressed fears about their future.
Nakumatt chairman Bernard Mosomi said his club can barely afford to honour matches.
“It is has been hectic since the monthly grants stopped. I doubt whether we can afford to continue playing in this league in the next two weeks. Without money it will be difficult to motivate the players as they cannot perform,” he said.
Chemelil Sugar Chairman Robert Nyakundi is disappointed that nothing has come off the lofty promises made to them at the KPL gala.
“Former KPL Chairman Dan Aduda gave a rosy picture during the gala and we were expecting that by now clubs will be receiving a monthly grant of not less than Sh1million. But as it is we have been left fighting for our survival,” he said.
Thika United Chairman Lolli said his shirt sponsorship deal has been reduced by half due to a reduction in the number of live matches.
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa said he has been made aware of the financial challenges at the league body and will convene a meeting with all club chairmen next Friday to discuss the way forward.
“The deal between FKF and KPL was made on the premise that the latter would commercially market the league but it seems they can no longer carry out that function and that is why we need to meet and chart the way forward on this matter,” he said.
Mwendwa admitted that he too is affected by the situation considering that he has a club in the top tier league. The FKF boss is associated with Kariobangi Sharks.
Sports and Heritage Permanent Secretary Ambassador Peter Kaberia also weighed in on the KPL issue as the Government had promised to plug the hole that was created after SportPesa pulled the plug on sponsorship.
“We are doing everything to plug the gap, but it is not our responsibility. They must not think that the Government can do everything.
“I want to urge KPL and other sports federations to look for ways of getingt sponsorship to run their activities,” he said.
