The furore surrounding the discovery of two major sponsors for the Premier League seems to have no end in sight as the affected parties struggle unsuccessfully to resolve an impasse that is better prevented that resolved.
Further revelations from the contract the Ghana Football Association signed with the Kumasi based Crystal TV indicate that whoever drafted the contract was totally ignorant of the workings of the game in the country and sold out everything Ghana as far as football is concerned and even entered the domain of the Confederation of African Football.
Aside selling out the Premier League, the FA Cup, the Champion of Champions Cup, Division One League, Division Two League, Division Three League and all matches involving the national soccer teams (Black Stars, Black Meteors, Under-20, Under-17, Black Queens), the GFA also sold out broadcast rights of the African Champions League and the African Cup Winners Cup to Crystal TV even though those rights are owned by the continental soccer controlling body, CAF.
Even though a clause in the contract takes cognisance of the non-usurpation of CAF rights, one wonders the rationale behind the FA allowing the insertion of the Champions League and Cup Winners Cup because of the total ownership rights CAF has over those competitions.
An FA insider who spoke to the Soccer Express on a condition of anonymity yesterday confirmed that the FA has been holding talks with Crystal TV, TV3, Kinapharma and GTV over how best to resolve the embarrassing scandal which has seen Crystal TV throw eggs right in the face of all other parties by cutting a deal with GTV which saw the national television station screen the crucial Kotoko-Hearts match played last Sunday, two hours after the match had ended. Serious questions have arisen as to why Crystal TV was given the rights, title and interest in any audiovisual exploitation of the afore-mentioned FA events and more as in the CAF owned rights.
According to the FA source who was very critical of the management board for the manner they have conducted themselves, the association clinched the Kinapharma deal after several companies had demurred and especially after several media houses had agreed to provide free airtime to Kinapharma so the pharmaceutical giant could part with its billions to the FA.
"The Association thus gave the rights to Joy FM and Peace FM in exchange for free advertising for Kinapharma, but the hitch is that when the issue of Crystal was brought up, the FA lied when it stated that the Crystal TV contract was a non-starter as they had not made any payment as per the contract."
As is now publicly known the FA somehow later took an amount of $85,365.85 from Crystal TV but kept mum about it.
Separate FA sources say Crystal TV is in an uncompromising mood as negotiations continue, and TV3 and Kinapharma are bewildered by the abuse of right they thought belonged exclusively to them.
Potential for sponsorship for the lower division leagues has become almost non-existent as possible leads have whittled down following the revelation that Crystal TV have rights to all the lower leagues as well.
The big question is can Crystal TV invoke its rights over Asante Kotoko's African Cup Winners matches when it is clear the rights belong to the Confederation of African Football?
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