CAF — African Football Crisis — What Now?
In April this year, Frank Dunn of Sportbusiness.com wrote an article titled: “Eleven years after hosting the FIFA World Cup, African football is facing its deepest crisis”, I found this article interesting because Mr. Dunn attempted to link the recent, multiple audits of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The 2010 World Cup was a historical event — the first time the World Cup would be hosted on African soil. To put it into perspective, in the 80s, this was an event that gave Africa only two spots, which meant only two African teams could participate at the event. As you can see, this article’s attempt to tarnish the celebratory moment for Africa was shameful. Specifically distasteful was how he claimed the World Cup was illegally acquired. In contrast, the article did properly highlight the corruption within CAF and the rationale for the three audits that were carried out by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
In 2019, FIFA forced CAF to cancel the contract it had with Lagardère Sports marketing (a French Sports Marketing Agency). The cancellation was triggered by the conclusions reached from the PwC audit findings. Lagardere Sports Marketing held the media and marketing rights for CAF tournaments, including the African Cup of Nations (CAN), the African Championship of Nations (CHAN), the Champions League, and the Confederation Cup. According to the Africa Report, former CAF president — Ahmad Ahmad terminated the agreement with Lagardere because he didn’t feel the contract properly served Africans. The agreement with Lagardere was completed by former longtime CAF president Issa Hayatou, and its termination was unsuccessfully challenged by the Legardere. According to Sportbusiness.com, CAF’s main partners — Total and Orange (Sponsorship) and Bein Sports and Supersport (Broadcasting) have not renewed their agreements to replace the Legardere Sports Marketing deal. If they don’t renew, the revenues at stake include: Total — $250 million (2017–2024), Orange $160 million, Supersport $130 million (2017–2024), and Bein Sport — $400 million for Middle East and North Africa (2017–2028). The departure of Legardere means CAF may have to work for and control its own revenues, which may not be a bad thing at all.
Some may look at the revenue issues facing CAF and think there are rough days ahead, but I beg to differ: I believe CAF has a unique opportunity here to build itself, create leverage, and control its own content and revenues. Most major sport leagues and properties around the world have a platform they own. Some of these platforms are used to broadcast some of their games. For instance, the National Football League (NFL) owns the NFL network where certain games are aired live on its platform. The rationale here is that their product (American Football) will draw in the fans regardless of where it is shown, and given the revenues generated by the NFL, they aren’t wrong. CAF events, specifically the African Football Cup of Nations (AFCON) has years of tradition mixed with national pride, and Africans around the globe religiously watch this event whenever it is played. The rise of African football celebrities in Europe has even extended the reach of AFCON, as almost every team has more than one of these players on its roster. Plus, the history and tradition of the event is not, and has not been told, which adds to the content that CAF can broadcast on its own platform. CAF can create its own program to air AFCON as well as other Continental competitions. If it does, it will keep its broadcasting revenue, and generate more sponsorship dollars. If CAF decides to negotiate with a potential partner, it will have more leverage than it currently does. More leverage will be natural byproduct from owning its platform because CAF won’t be dependent on any sport marketing firm, and this leverage will almost guarantee larger revenues during negotiations with potential broadcasters/sponsors.
CAF’s ability to use this challenging period to create more internal revenue will be dependent on a better management strategy and a more unified confederation. CAF will also have to create its own Sponsorship and Broadcasting departments by pulling on the vast young technical and expertise within the continent. If CAF can convince its member nations to support a new strategy for revenue generation, it will transform its situation from being a Confederation that is dependent on foreign organizations to one that controls it earning potential. The Confederation’s ability to create internal revenue streams will improve its financial structure and garner more respect in international football. Who knows, maybe even attract another FIFA World Cup to Africa.
