IT is that time of the year when football clubs reveal their new kits for the forthcoming season but the message from the Premier Soccer League’s (PSL’s) Parktown office is “hold your horses”.
The PSL, the trading name of the National Soccer League (NSL), sent a circular to Premier Division clubs requesting them “to put on hold the process of finalising their kit …”
The Premier Division has been sponsored by DStv since September 2020 when it concluded a five-year deal to become the new title sponsor of the Premiership. This effectively means that this deal will run for another season.
DStv is owned by MultiChoice, a television company that is already in partnership with the PSL to sponsor the reserve league, known as the MultiChoice Diski Challenge.
Apart from the partnership, the company also has an existing deal with the PSL as it owns the rights to broadcast local matches.
Of late, there has been a flurry of reports saying that South Africans and subscribers elsewhere on the African continent are dumping DStv as they move to more affordable streaming services. As a result, there has been a massive decline in subscriptions.
Some reports say MultiChoice could be sold to a French company.
The other bad news for the PSL was that the former MultiChoice non-executive chairman Imtiaz Patel had stepped down. For many years Patel was a close ally of the PSL. He would have been at the forefront of the five-year sponsorship deal that is presently under threat.
Patel also played a leading hand a decade ago when SuperSport took over the PSL’s live TV rights from the SABC after it clinched a new rights deal. At the time, the SABC failed to respond during the window period to renegotiate rights. Since then, the public broadcaster could show some games but with restrictions.
If DStv can no longer afford to see out the final year of its sponsorship, the PSL will be forced to find another sponsor for the Premiership. PSL chairman Irvin Khoza is a man of great influence and he has been at the forefront of the sponsorship committee for many years. Thanks to this committee, the PSL has a fair number of sponsors.
The circular informs that the PSL is finalising a new version of the Premiership logo to be used on the right shoulder of the jersey this season.
The clubs were advised they must still submit their kit for approval to the PSL’s football department by today.