The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) and StarTimes have signed a five-year agreement to bring the local league back on television.
This agreement was signed yesterday between the NPFL board and StarTimes in Abuja.
The first year of the deal which is the current season (2023/24) is N1.06bn after which N50m will be paid for a season till the 2027/2028 season.
The President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Musa Gusau, who led members of the board of the NPFL said the football house will continue to make sure that Nigerian league is beamed across the globe and expose Nigerian players to the world.
“It was a promise we made when we came on board to beam football games on our screen and today, we are telling Nigerians that we have achieved that. We started with live streaming which will still go on. It was our intention to start this before the league kicked off but we wanted to do a thorough job as we wanted to do things the right way. Today we are here and tomorrow, we may not be here and with that we wanted to leave a lasting legacy for those that will come after us,” he said.
NPFL chairman, Gbenga Elegbeleye, described the event as a right step in the right direction.
“Today is a major step to bring football to the homes of Nigerians. It has been months of painstaking efforts to ensure we bring our football to the TV. We look forward to exciting times in our league. Good times are back in the NPFL,” he declared.
In his speech, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of StarTimes, Joshua Wang said the company which offers digital terrestrial television and satellite television services will provide high quality games to Nigerians.
“We have been in Nigeria for several years and we know Nigerians are passionate about football. We give equal opportunities to everyone and this had led to partnership with several football federations such as Rwanda, Tanzania and Ghana. We are glad to have secured exclusive rights for five years and we remain committed to developing football in Nigeria.
According to NPFL, the live broadcast of the league will begin on November 18th. Two games will be shown till February 18th, 2024 after which it will increase to four games till 2025 season. The remaining three seasons will have eight of the games broadcasted to Nigerians.
