Five-year partnership aims to restore live local matches to Nigerian screens and boost club revenue.
The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) signed a landmark five-year broadcast rights deal with StarTimes; a pact hailed as a turning point in the league’s long drive back onto Nigerian television screens.
According to official figures, the deal is valued at approximately ₦5.9 billion over its term, with year-one set at about ₦1.06 billion and incremental increases through the contract’s life. This stride comes after years of broadcast invisibility and commercial stagnation for the country’s top domestic football competition.
In recent memory, the NPFL endured a void of effective television presence following the exit of its former rights partner, SuperSport, in 2016. That absence left the league largely off-screen, while foreign leagues dominated airtime in Nigerian homes. As the NPFL’s Chairman, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye, explained: the major obstacle was cost-intensive match production due to infrastructure deficits in many stadiums. Contracting the new deal was not just about money—it was about ensuring the league could deliver the product broadcasters and fans expect.
- The contract structure reveals the league’s ambitions: StarTimes pledged an initial broadcasting of two matches per matchday from its Nov 2023 start, expanding to four matches weekly from February 2024 and eventually eight matches per matchday in the later years of the deal. This progressive rollout underscores the NPFL’s goal of building consistent coverage and visibility for clubs, players and sponsors.
- Visibility for local players and clubs: For years, Nigerian talent plying their trade domestically lacked television exposure compared to those in Europe or other African leagues. Live broadcast brings Nigerian players into homes and builds their profile.
- Commercial enhancement: Elevated league exposure raises sponsorship appeal, advertising revenue, and broadcast quality. All of which contribute to the commercial viability of clubs and the league itself.
- Professional standards and integrity: With wider broadcast scrutiny, there’s added pressure for officiating standards, matchday operations, and league governance—areas the NPFL board has repeatedly flagged as key to league development.
Yet, even as the deal brought new hope, challenges remain. The NPFL continues to emphasise that the StarTimes pact was the “best offer available” at the time and not necessarily exclusive, signalling the league’s openness to multiple broadcast partners. In May 2024, Elegbeleye reiterated that the NPFL would consider additional offers and that rights had been un-bundled to allow multiple partners across platforms such as Direct-to-Home (DTH) and Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming.
As the league moves into this new era, the test will lie in delivery: Can clubs, administrators and broadcast partners convert promise into consistent matchday production and commercial growth? Will the Nigerian viewer embrace the domestic league as they do foreign competitions? Will this new broadcast deal enable the NPFL to reclaim its place in the national football dialogue?
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