Nairobi — Premier League clubs are set to receive grants of Sh10mn annually after the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) signed a free to air TV contract with national broadcaster KBC.
The amount will come from the total broadcast kitty signed by the Federation with both KBC and Tanzanian firm Azam Media.
KBC has paid approximately 190 million shillings (SD1,250,000) for the free to air rights which will see them broadcast two matches per weekend on TV and across all their 14 radio stations.
The national broadcaster will pay 750,000 dollars for TV rights and a further 500,000 for radio rights.
The deal, according to Football Kenya Federation boss Nick Mwendwa will also cater for payments for referees in the Premier League, National Super League and Women’s Premier League.
The contract was signed an unveiled on Thursday evening.
“We are very excited because this has never been done before. It is the first time we have such an amount for our clubs. Of course we would have wanted more, but we are glad that we are here,” Mwendwa said.
He further explained that the sponsorship package will be increasing by 100,000 USD per year (Approx Sh15.3mn) and thus more money for the clubs.
At the same time, winners of the title will earn Sh5mn, while there will be a further Sh11mn to be split among the rest of the 17 clubs, depending on the positional finishes.
“It should mean something for you to finish number two in the league. Also, it would mean more if you finish number three as compared to number 17,” Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba, who witnessed the signing of the agreement said.
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Namwamba has disclosed as well that the signing had delayed due to some issues he wanted sorted out, which included sharing of the revenue for all clubs as well as more money.
“I wanted a little bit more money for our teams. I also wanted this deal to include the Women and the National Super League, but there were many reasons why it did not,” Namwamba further said.
There will be two free to air matches broadcast on KBC and their sister radio stations every weekend, while Azam will broadcast three on Pay TV.
Also present during the signing of the contract was Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and Digital Economy Eliud Owalo as well as his Principal Secretary Edward Kisiang’ani, under who the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation falls.
