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Still no TV soccer deal
04/07/2007 22:14 - (SA)
Johannesburg - They emerged after four hours of negotiating at Johannesburg's plush Westcliff Hotel on Wednesday like two long-lost buddies after a reunion - but SuperSport CEO Imtiaz Patel and his SABC counterpart, Dali Mpofu, proclaimed there was still "no deal" between the two broadcasters over the PSL's controversial TV rights.
Still, there was sufficient evidence to suggest a fair amount of progress had been made since Mpofu declared SuperSport's awesome R1.3bn sponsorship for the right to televise PSL games over the next five years was nothing more than "a sham" and something akin to sabotaging a soccer-mad nation.
SuperSport have since brought home the soothing message that they are happy to sell off as many as 140 PSL games - including Cup Finals and the big derbies - for free-to-air viewing by SABC and E-TV.
And with the issue now seemingly tackled at the negotiating table with monetary considerations and calculating heads rather than emotional hearts coming to the fore, Mpofu had clearly changed his tune and was declaring the I's still had to be dotted and the T's crossed - "but hopefully we are getting there."
The media, in the meantime, summoned amid high expectations at three different times during the day for what was hinted would be a memorable announcement of accord between the one-time warring adversaries, were left instead savouring crumbs in the form of the hotel's appetising culinary delights.
Last time the media were called to this particular venue for a major soccer announcement by the 2010 World Cup Organising Committee, there was an en masse walk-out by members of the fourth estate irritated by countless postponements without explanation of the proclaimed agenda.
This time, at least, the abundance of food helped mask the bitter pill which some believed they had savoured.
- SAPA
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