Bullets, Nomads spit fire!

…threaten to stop Beta Television from beaming their matches

Nyasa Big Bullets and Be Forward Wanderers have ganged up against the Super League of Malawi (Sulom) and Beta Television over delays in paying the teams their share of Television rights in the super league, Malawi24 can report.

The two teams had a press briefing at Mpira Village in Chiwembe on Wednesday afternoon where, through Kelvin Moyo and Mike Butao, demanded Sulom to release the copy of a contract they signed with Beta TV for the rights.

According to the teams, they agreed with Sulom and Beta TV to pay them the first quarter of their shares but up to this date, they haven’t received anything from the two parties.

The teams have also revealed that the said contract was never given to the teams to appreciate what was inside before awarding Beta TV the rights.

According to the Blantyre based giants, the initial agreement was that Beta TV will pay all super league teams K80 million for the whole season but because the television only beamed two games in the entire first round, K40 million was the amount they agreed to pay the teams.

“We are in the dark because the teams were not given the copy of a contract by Sulom yet we are the key stakeholders in the TV rights deal. We were told that Beta TV will pay teams K20 Million on September 15, with the remaining balance being paid in the last week of December but up to this date, we have received nothing from them.”

“So as teams, we are demanding Sulom to release the contract copy before Friday or else, we will stop Beta TV from beaming our matches starting with the Karonga United and Epac FC games this weekend,” he explained.

Butao echoed Moyo’s sentiments saying failure to comply with the team’s demands will see them stopping Beta TV from beaming their matches.

He also wondered as to why the two giants are getting equal shares despite being the only teams that have had more matches on Beta TV than any other team in the top flight.

“Beta TV has beamed more Bullets and Wanderers matches than other teams, why are we getting equal shares with them? We need to be given more from the TV rights than the rest of the teams,” he said.

According to the two General Secretaries, each team in the league was promised to be given K 1 million each with Sulom getting K4 million in the first and last quarter of the initial payment agreement.

However, Sulom through Treasurer Tiya Somba Banda refused to comment on the issue saying the two teams should have engaged them first before going to the media.

“I don’t want to comment on the issue because we don’t know who the representatives of the teams were and they should have consulted us first before going to the media so I will not comment on the issue,” he explained.

Asked on what will happen if the teams maintain their decision of stopping Beta TV from beaming their upcoming matches, Banda said:

“Let us just wait and see as to what will happen but I don’t want to shade more light on this issue because as Sulom, we received no official communication from the two teams before they engaged the media,” he concluded.

Beta TV signed a three K266 Million for three seasons with Sulom in August this year.