- The deal is worth a million dollars per season
- There will be an increase of 100,000 dollars every season
- Four matches will be broadcast live every weekend
The Football Kenya Federation has unveiled a seven-year sponsorship with Tanzanian company Azam TV as the league’s new broadcast partner, in a deal that’s worth 1 million dollars (USD850,000 after tax) per season.
The deal will see Azam seize all the broadcast rights of the top tier league while the Federation is seeking to add more cash in with the signing of a deal with a Free To Air (FTA) partner in the coming days.
At the same time, the value of the sponsorship is set to rise by 100,000 USD (Approx Sh14mn) per season.
“This has been a long journey with Azam for the last two months. We have had meetings in Nairobi, I have travelled to Tanzania and it has taken a lot of negotiation. Initially I wanted 1.5 million dollars because that is what I think our league is worth, but at times, you don’t always get what you want,” FKF President Nick Mwendwa said.
Azam TV Chief Operations Officer Yahya Mohamed has said they are delighted to have been in Kenya and are looking forward to helping the Kenyan game grow.
“Kenyan football has a lot of potential and we want to be partners in this. We will initially start by showing at least four games per weekend, but by the end of the first year, we want to be doing all the matches,” Mohamed said.
Azam first in Kenya in 2015

FKF CEO Barru Otieno and FKF boss Nick Mwendwa signing the agreement with Azam.
Azam had first come to Kenya in 2015, signing a deal with the then federation, but it was at a time when there were factions in the football leadership which led to the deal dying away.
Before Kenya was banned by FIFA, Chinese company StarTimes had the broadcast rights for the league, but left immediately after the Federation was dissolved by former Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed.
Azam started showing interest in Kenyan football towards the end of last season when they bought rights for two matches; the Mashemeji Derby pitting Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards as well as the Tusker FC vs Kariobangi Sharks match.
From this deal, all Premier League clubs benefited with Sh300,000 each. It is from this test that they decided to finally earn the rights for the whole league.
The Federation has however said they will not disclose now what each club will get, but said upon concluding talks with a Free To Air (FTA) partner, they will announce monetary incentives for all clubs.
Record deals for clubs

FKF CEO Barry Otieno and FKF boss Nick Mwendwa signing the agreement with Azam.
“What we will give clubs will be a record deal in the league. We don’t want to say now because we have not completed the talks. We are almost there and will do so probably in the next one week. If that fails, then we will have to share what we have with the clubs from Azam,” Mwendwa noted.
The last time clubs benefioted hugely from broadcast rights was when SuperSport were the league’s beamers, and each club earned approximately Sh7.5mn per season. Mwendwa says what clubs will receive this time round will be more, with sources intimating Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards, the two biggest clubs in the country in terms of following, will receive a significantly higher amount.
Azam is set to start broadcasting matches after the international break.
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