Johannesburg — SOUTH African Football Association (Safa) CEO Leslie Sedibe made it clear yesterday that Safa would not budge on what it believes to be the true value of the broadcast rights of national team matches when contractual negotiations with the SABC begin next month.

The SABC has always had rights to Bafana Bafana matches but its monopoly appears to be under threat after Sedibe told Business Day that the public broadcaster has been allowed to get away with murder for far too long.

"We know exactly what we want and we have already finalised our broadcast strategy," Sedibe said yesterday. "Obviously we want to continue working with the SABC but not under these difficult conditions.

"We cannot continue like this because the current contract is ludicrous," he said.

Sedibe said just as the Premier Soccer League (PSL) had done before dumping the SABC for SuperSport International in 2007, Safa was also consulting widely in a bid to fully exploit the real value of Bafana Bafana matches.

The PSL consulted English Premier League chairman David Richards, among others, before selling the rights to the domestic premiership to pay channel SuperSport International for R1,6bn over five years.

That decision sparked a furious outcry from government but the PSL insisted that it was running a business and had to take a stand after the SABC initially dilly-dallied over the figures.

Sedibe hinted that pay channel SuperSport International is an option that Safa is already looking into should the SABC fail to meet its asking price.

"If we are unable to reach a deal, then we will have to take our business elsewhere.

"The new deal that we will propose to the SABC will not be very different from the one that the PSL has with SuperSport International."

SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said he was distressed that Safa was already talking about taking its business elsewhere should the two parties fail to reach an agreement.

"They are already talking about alternatives before we have even started discussions," he said.

"Then you have a problem. The fact is we do not know what they are thinking and they certainly do not know what we are thinking around this whole issue.

"Let them come to the table and then we can reach common ground. We do not want to say anything that will pre-empt what the discussions are going to be and how they are going to play out before they take place," Kganyago said.

The contract - which was signed on April 1 2005 - is due to come to an end next April and Sedibe said it was shocking.

Safa does not make any money from the deal and the association is in fact expected to contribute to the SABC's production costs for broadcasting Bafana matches.

"This contract has been like this for years and according to these documents, even the contract before that one was also structured in this ridiculous manner."

Meanwhile, life in the premiership is clearly not going to be easy for greenhorns Vasco da Gama after the newcomers suffered their second defeat in a row yesterday afternoon.

A second-half brace from midfielder Nkanyiso Mlotshwa earned Golden Arrows maximum points with a 2-0 win that will no doubt go a long way to steadying new coach Zoran Filipovic's nerves.

The Serb was a bundle of nerves in his first match in charge after Arrows were beaten 2-0 by Kaizer Chiefs in the opening match of the season last month.

Vasco are still searching for their first victory in the premiership after the 2-1 defeat to Orlando Pirates on the opening day.