The Nigeria Premier Football League board is proposing a broadcast partnership with the Nigerian Television Authority after the abrupt end of its five-year broadcast deal with cable TV firm StarTimes.
This imminent collaboration to broadcast the league was revealed by the management of the NTA on Thursday.
“The Nigeria Premier Football League Chairman Gbenga Elegbeleye has called on the Director General of the Nigerian Television Authority NTA, Mr Rotimi Pedro to partner with NPFL to beam all its 10 weekly matches to NTA’s millions of viewers across the country and beyond,” NTA said in a Facebook post.
“This was when Otunba Gbenga Elegbeleye led his management team to the NTA’s headquarters where they were received by the Director General of NTA Mr Rotimi Pedro and his management team.
According to the statement, the NTA DG expressed his desire to collaborate with the NPFL to grow its followership, noting that growing the football economy is part of President Bola Tinubu’s vision of a one trillion dollars economy.
Feelers have it that StarTimes have ended their deal as the official broadcast partners of the NPFL following a poor return on investment, especially in the patronage of their decoder and offerings by Nigerians.
StarTimes and the NPFL signed a five-year deal worth N6bn in 2023, but the agreement has been terminated after two years.
Before the start of the 2025/26 season, NPFL Chairman, Elegbeleye, hinted that the league organisers were in search of new TV broadcast partners.
“This new season, we’re talking about broadcasting, we had StarTimes, but we may not likely go with StarTimes this time around. Most likely, we’re working on other options, so you guys should expect that,” Elegbeleye said during the club chairmen’s AGM in Abuja.
“AfroSports is one of those we’re trying to talk to and see if the arrangements would suit our purpose of broadcasting.”
Champions Remo Stars and Rivers kicked off the new season last Friday in Abeokuta, with other games following on Sunday and Wednesday. However, the games were only streamed via the NPFL Live app.
It was gathered that the deal has been off the table due to an unsustainable business model.
“I heard they cited non patronage of their decoder and offerings by Nigerians. They weren’t getting value, so to say.”
When asked about the possibility of having the league back on StarTimes, one of the firm’s marketers also said “No information on this for now. If we have any we will communicate through our various on and offline platforms.”
More findings revealed that StarTimes withdrawal was also fueled by skyrocketing cost of production.
In August 2024, StarTimes renewed its partnership with Team33 Production as the official production partner for the previous season.
NPFL Chairman, Otunba Gbenga Elegbeleye, stated that the league body will announce new broadcast partners after an agreement has been reached.
“I can’t make comments on something that hasn’t been concluded. Once we finalise it, we will announce it during a press conference.”
