A new sports company, Sports Broadcasting has injected a massive Shs.10bn in the top Ugandan leagues for the next four years.
During a press conference at Serena Hotel, this morning, Dennis Mbidde, a FUFA Vice President and Managing Director of Sports Broadcasting Limited, announced the new partnership with the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA). The deal starts on June 1, 2018 until 2022.
Sports Broadcasting is a new sports content company aiming to cover Ugandan sports.
This is the biggest sponsorship deal for the Ugandan football leagues. The three and a half year deal with Azam TV which expires in May was estimated at shs.5.4 billion.
The company is expected to start its own sports-only channel in August to be able to broadcast over 240 live matches of the Uganda Premier League, the Big League and the Uganda Cup.
“The world has moved away from the show of military might to sports, entertainment and sports tourism. We are keen on making this possible such that people enjoy sports at the maximum,” Mbidde said.
The company that owns the new broadcasters is Prime Media, an outdoor advertising agent, Prime Media, who sponsor KCCA FC.
The FUFA president Moses Magogo, who ran a similar project, Pearl Sporto, for 16 months after leaving his job at African Development Bank, said he was moved.
“My personal dream was to put Ugandan sport on TV. When a Ugandan company comes around I feel emotional. Sports is the best way to take Uganda forward given the volume of people involved and the age group,” said Magogo.
“The modern game is commercial and must be nurtured. We must reposition ourselves as football to be able to earn money,” he added.
The super league will get USD600,000 from the new deal an increase from USD500,000 that Azam TV were offering. But according to the chairman of the UPL board, Bernard Bainamani, this is a very much improved offer.
“We have the potential to earn more money from other advertisers because it offers us an option of free-to-air television,” Bainamani said.
The Big League will be rewarded with USD80,000 while Uganda Cup will have a share of USD70,000.
GTV, DSTV and Azam have tried broadcasting Uganda’s sports content but have faced several challenges. GTV ran bankrupt while DSTV came in during the time of warfare among football leaders yet Azam refused to renew their deal after failing to get value for money.
