NPFL Back On Your Screens! As League Body Highlights Milestones and Challenges.

LMC boss Shehu Dikko opens up on the finances, TV rights, Katsina UTD vs Kano Pillars… in this interview with Bunmi Blair 

NPFL First Round

Thank you very much sir for the privilege to talk with you.

The league is almost halfway looking at how the league started, what will you say has been the high point for you so far?

I can say so far so good, there are so many aspects of the league that you have to look at. Technically the results have been very good, security-wise, we can say it's been good. We didn't have anyone major issue to deal with until recently. So, security-wise it has been good.

Commercially we are putting out strategies to see that we get to where we should be. Everybody is doing his own bit. The fans are turning out in numbers, especially down the northern part, which shows there are people who believe in what we are doing.

The media too have shown interest, the reports have been very good, though we can do more. At least, it shows that everybody is coming together to get it right. But there is still more to be done and we are doing it.

NPFL Commercial Value/ TV

What was the major target you set before the season started and how far have you gone trying to achieve it?

The Paramount thing is the commercial activities, once we can resolve the commercial side of the league, we can have a lot of money to invest back into the system, build more infrastructures, help the clubs back to the players, so that the league can keep developing, because the league is driven by fans.

Our number one priority is to see how we can get the League back on the screens. If it is just getting the League back on the screens we could do it. I can sign a contract that will give me one match a week tomorrow for example. We can do that, but is that true development? That is not development. We have to learn from the lesson of what happened before. When we had the TV before, we were only able to show one or two matches that is no progression.

 

So, the number one thing we want to resolve is content production. We must be able to produce and take control of our content. So that we can monetize it through the OTT (Over-the-top media services, i. e TV delivered via the internet), the free-to-air and the cable. By doing this, we can make a lot of money that we can put back into the system. That is the engagement we had with the partner we are working with, the NextTV.

Our target before was to within this month get some matches on TV. That, by the new year we should start getting some games on TV.

We already have a partnership also with 9mobile for them to offer special data plans to those who want to watch the games online.

Challenges

It's not easy because we are starting from Ground Zero. We are setting up a whole production system so that we can take control of our content. It is not the TV networks that produce matches for the league, it's not for us to go and give NTA or Super Sports to produce for us. Somebody has to take the clear-cut production and then put it on those networks. That is the model that works everywhere and that's the way we have to go.

We are doing it basically on our own. In other places they have a lot of support, the government provides the equipment and they can repay over time. For example, the government woke up one day in Morocco bought 17 OB-Vans and handed it over to the league. At the end of the day, the content that is produced is sold and they repay the government.

You saw the problem that happened with the last super Eagles match, even the people that produced the game cannot buy the game themselves, because we have left these things undone.

We are always looking at the final outcome, nobody thinks about how these things are produced or done.

It is not Sky that produces the Premier League, it is a company called IMG Premier League production. It is not the TV networks that produce La Liga, it is Mediapro, in Italy it is Influx, that's what we've been trying to do. If we don't do it, I tell you we are all running in circles.

 

$5.25m Ghana TV Deal

Ghana just signed what they call a TV deal, yes, they may be able to see maybe two to three games a week with the partnership they signed. But, if you are showing your games on TV and you don't have the money then what are you doing?

They signed a deal that is not more than one million dollars ($1000000) a year, all the league and FA Cup and stuff like that in Ghana. Yes, they might have games on TV but is that money enough to go back to the clubs for infrastructures and what have you? 

That's what we are trying to avoid. We have got a few opportunities to do things like that, but we can't afford to go that way. Everybody should be patient we need to put up the right strategies going forward.

So, when are we going to start seeing the NPFL games on TV?

We are working round-the-clock towards that, any moment from now you will see us live.

The app is already built, the partners are working round the clock and fundamentally we have milestones in the whole transaction. So far so good, we're meeting those milestones. It's a longtime deal we signed not something that will happen overnight.  

Coaches’ Capacity Building

What happened to the coaching capacity building you normally do for the NPFL coaches? The kind of program you did in conjunction with Star and Arsenal?

We did that program in conjunction with Nigerian Breweries Plc. They brought in one of their partner clubs, you know they had partnerships with so many clubs abroad. The idea was that every year they bring one of the clubs to support the NPFL.

They brought Arsenal, the next was supposed to be Man City but unfortunately, they had a change in management and also canceled most of those contracts with the foreign clubs. Star does not have those contracts with foreign clubs again but we know the value that it has added to the coaches in the league. 

But you know every year we do the La Liga coaching program in conjunction with La Liga Nigeria, basically for the youth development in the league. 

With what you are saying, we might maybe try to see if we can increase the curriculum in the next edition of the La Liga coaching course to include elite coaches this February, though it's very tight.

The training has been very valuable, I'm happy most of the coaches who were involved in that program are still the ones running most of the NPFL clubs now. It was brilliant, we have to continue.  

More Away Wins and Draws

There have been a lot of away draws away wins in the league this season, the performances of the referees have improved, how have you been able to achieve this?

There have been a lot of conversations between us, the referee's committee and the NRA. We are now thinking together and moving forward together.

A lot of changes have been done, a lot of monitoring for the matches and we have issued a lot of punishments too.

Fundamentally, we have reduced the number of referees. Referees now know that every other week you go for a game. They also need a certain number of games to be able to officiate at FIFA and CAF that levels. 

We also now have a system of promotion and relegation. You do well you remain, you don't do well, you mess up your game, somebody will come up to replace you.

So, the guys down there are trying to come up with the guys up here at trying to stay.

There has also been a lot of training and awareness. The teams now incorporate good security at match venues. Teams now go away and win and nothing happens.

Some few days ago there was a match in Bauchi, it was Wikki Tourist versus sunshine stars, the stadium was filled to the brim with over 20,000 fans and the home team lost.

After the match, the fans were hailed the match of officials. Who will not want to go officiate in that kind of environment?

Katsina United Vs Kano Pillars

What happened in the match between Katsina United and Kano Pillars it was all over the news that fans clashed after the game?

I will say, it is what I call the unfair reportage and also the clubs involved did not handle it the best way. Because we had a very brilliant game the stadium was almost full.

Yes, it is a rivalry game, a rivalry that has gone on for several decades. The home team put up a lot of security measures, the deputy commissioner of police was involved, so many security personnel were involved, the game was perfect.

Yes, there were some misunderstanding but nothing really happened on the pitch of play. The game was played the game ended very well

After the game, some groups of fans maybe not more than 20, went outside the stadium, inside the city to have a fight. That is not about the result of the game that is not about football, it was after the game.

We don't even know whether the people were at the Stadium or not, the game has ended, that is an issue of Public Order

We don't even know what they are fighting for maybe, they are doing a political rally, so we are waiting to get the report from the police to know what really happened

Even before the game, I'm aware that a delegation was sent from the home team to go and meet their fans to ensure there will be no issue during the game.

They even send a delegation to one of Kano Pillars’ home matches to support them in Kano.

Only three people were reported to be injured there was no death those are fake stories.

We are concerned and know we have to work to deal with the rivalry between the two teams. Katsina United have played several home matches this season and have lost points and nothing happened.

Monetary Value for League Winner

What is the monetary value attached to the League this season? How much will the winner of the league eventually take home?

Normally we have a template for our finances which we are agreed with the clubs in 2013. That template is there, every year you fill it up. If we get this revenue, this goes here, this goes there, that is the focus of the guaranteed revenues.

Every season we work with that, even this season if the revenues are now coming in as expected, everybody knows what they will get.

If revenues do not come, we only fund the basic activities of the league. So, it’s there, that is why no club is talking about it because they know every time the revenues come we deliver.