By Paul Nicholson
April 10 – Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Ahmad has said he believes the 12-year deal signed with Lagardère Sports for $1 billion was for too long a term, might have been too cheap and that he is going to revisit this agreement.
Ahmad said that he would not sign a rights deal for anything longer than a three-year period. While that is generally the term for rights deals with the world’s biggest properties – Premier League and Champions League – international rights tend to be in four year cycles with many of the buyers increasingly asking for longer term commitments from rights holders to get their top dollar.
The Lagardère deal became a contentious issue during the elections for CAF president last month when Ahmad took over from Issa Hayatou who had had five terms at the head of the African football table.
Little known Egyptian company Presentation Sports claimed that their bid for the rights had not been taken seriously and that they had offered more than Lagardère. CAF countered that their bid did not match the tender criteria and that although it was considered by CAF, it was submitted beyond the bid deadline and the company had no record of international rights representation that could be relied on.
That triggered criminal proceedings against CAF and Hayatou, referred by the Egyptian Prosecutor’s Office on March 7, for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive practices – initial court hearings started on Monday, March 13, the week of CAF’s elections.
The timing of the court action was deeply suspicious coming before the CAF congress and following a concerted anti-Hayatou press campaign in Egyptian media in the week before. Egypt had become a key supporter of Ahmad.
While post-election the furore has died down, the issue itself has not gone away.
Presentation Sports told Insideworldfootball after the election that depending on CAF’s reaction it would drop its case against CAF, but would not be dropping its case against Hayatou. Insiders have said that the reason for this is politically motivated and to ensure that Hayatou can never return to CAF.
Speaking at a press conference in Johannesburg after meeting with presidents of southern Africa’s football associations, Ahmad said: “This contract is the subject of a judicial challenge in the Egyptian courts at the moment and it was to protect the integrity of CAF in this issue that the general secretary Hicham (El Amrani) submitted his resignation, which we accepted.
“We will investigate but I am concerned about the length of the contract. I would never sign anything for longer than three years.”
At the CAF congress delegates were told that the value of the rights were worth $1.5 billion and not $1 billion Lagardère are paying for their 12 year agreement – frankly both are huge figures looking at the commercial marketplace for African football. A three-year rights deal would obviously guarantee significantly less that the current $1 billion or the speculative $1.5 billion. If Ahmad is determined to break the Lagardère contract and reduce the deal to three years he may be risking CAF’s commercial stability on what is an uncertain future in an increasingly unstable-looking football continent.
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