‘We’re bringing in audiences’: SABC says Safa deal not just about the money

If you were looking to get the figures for the South African Football Association’s (Safa) new, extended four-year broadcasting deal with the SABC, you’d be very lucky to find them.

The bosses of both organisations insisted at the announcement of the renewal at the SABC headquarters in Auckland Park on Thursday their agreement cannot be measured solely on the rands and cents.

The deal will take the broadcast partnership between the two, which started when South African football was readmitted to international football by Fifa in 1992, beyond its present 32 years.

Explaining its details, SABC group CEO Nomsa Chabeli said the figurers were less important as the agreement they have with Safa goes way beyond that, especially given the reach the public broadcaster offers in terms of its huge viewing numbers. “From the SABC perspective we don't discuss the contents of our contracts. That's important because they're confidential,” she said.

“What broadcasts do is help attract and maintain the commercial ecosystem. I think what often gets ignored when we start looking at how much the SABC is offering, is what the SABC is giving in terms of the opportunity for them [Safa] to commercialise [their products] across their entire football offering.

“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 be able to go on and sell it to commercial sponsors who are looking for rights and opportunities to leverage their presence, and to target their audiences the SABC is bringing to this.”

Chabedi said the SABC has an audience of more than 26.6-million daily viewers and listeners. “There’s no other media owner in this country that offers that. 

“So what’s important when we talk about this partnership is that it’s not about rands and cents. It’s also about [SABC] giving universal access to all South Africans to be a part of this. It has to be looked at in terms of a bigger national issue rather than just how much is exchanging hands.”

Safa president Danny Jordaan concurred, and added that the nature of the role was mutual, given the value of the football competitions the association can offer the SABC. 

The Safa-SABC broadcast deal includes matches of all national teams — Bafana Bafana, Banyana Banyana and the junior national squads. This is in addition to Safa’s national women’s Hollywoodbets Super League, which the SABC is also already showing.

“What is important is the value add [of the broadcast deal] is bought by sponsors. If your matches have no broadcast, your value of those matches and your properties are in a lesser value than when it is exposed on national television,” Jordaan said.

“That is the important thing. So I’ll calculate that and then come back to you [with the figures of the deal]. But as you can see it’s a complicated calculation, but ultimately we have to bring figures.”

Jordaan is particularly happy with the Hollywoodbets league Safa started in 2019 without a sponsor — the betting company came on board a year later — or matches being shown on television.

“The next step is to broaden the television coverage of the matches and we're getting there.

“If we can tick that box too we'll [eventually] have a fully fledged women's professional league.”

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Bafana's 2025 Africa Cup Nations qualifier against Uganda at Orlando Stadium on September 6 will be the first senior national team game played after the signing of the new deal.