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By Emma Jemegah
When the new Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) starts August for the new season, over 100 million viewers across the globe will watch all the matches live from their mobile devices and laptops.
Basil Kabbani made this promise, the chairman of Propel Sports Africa yesterday at the unveiling of the partnership deal between the NPFL, GTI Group and Propel Sports Africa to broadcast the elite professional football league live via Over – The- Top (OTT) streaming.
This initiative expected to start in the new season in August has been enabled by one of the world’s most advanced AI Technology and the platform will be available in all mobile devices in the country and all over world.
A top provider of AI automated sports video and data solutions, Pixellos, are involved in the project together with ITV Africa in a bid to boost sports TV coverage of the domestic league games.
President of Propel Sports, Ed Simmon, said yesterday that the deal was a game changer, which would herald the transformation of the Nigerian football economy, which sports loving public and the stakeholders have been waiting for.
“This initiative is a five-year dream and we are happy it is coming up now. This live streaming is the very first of its kind in the world because it is not even in the EPL and other top leagues,” Simmon said. Group Managing Director of GTI Group, Abubakar Lawal, said he was particularly excited that the repackaging of the league was something people thought was not possible but God’s factor has made it happen.
“We took risks and everything is working well with hope that things will be better later for us to have more money for the government, clubs, sponsors and fans,” Lawal said.
The Chairman of the Interim Management Committee, Gbenga Elegbeleye, however noted that it was good that one of the promises of bringing the league on television will manifest next season.
Elegbeleye revealed that the pre-season tournament, which fetched Shooting Stars N100m last year, would again come up this year with the winner to get N1bn.
“We are not joking at all. Our target is to ensure that the Nigerian player with the least pain Nigerian player will earn N1m monthly,” he said.
Chairman of Propel Sports, Basil Kabbani, the CEO of IMC, Davidson Owumi were present at the event while three former internationals-Daniel Amokachi, Tijani Babangida and Yakubu Aiyebeni-were also in attendance.
