By Mark Baber
February 6 – The General Sports Authority (GSA), Saudi Football Federation and the Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding by which STC will have the sole rights for transmission of local football matches and the matches of Saudi national team.
The deal was signed for an amount of SR6.6 billion ($1.8 billion) for a period of 10 years.
The MoU was signed by Dr. Khaled Biyari, CEO of STC, and Adel Ezzat, chairman of the board of Saudi Football Federation, at a ceremony held in Riyadh in the presence of Turki Bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Sheikh, chairman of the board of GSA.
Under the terms of the MoU, STC will have the exclusive right to carry out transmission of all local football matches, Saudi Professional League tournaments, King’s Cup, Crown Prince’s Cup, and all the matches of the Saudi national team that are in the jurisdiction of the Saudi Football Federation.
According to the Saudi Gazette, the deal also gives STC the right to sponsor the marketing of Saudi Professional League matches, sponsor the marketing of Saudi Football Federation, the Referee’s Committee for the seasonal matches and the Saudi team’s matches.
The deal conflicts with an earlier deal signed with the Waleed al-Ibrahim controlled MBC Group which signed a deal to win the same broadcast rights in July 2014.
Ibrahim was recently detained for nearly three months by security officials before apparently signing an agreement giving up undisclosed assets to the state in an undisclosed agreement, regarding undisclosed “violations.”
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