Why CAF Canceled $415m TV Deal with beIN Sports

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) terminated its $415m contract with Qatari media group firm beIN Sports because it is owed nearly $100m.

On 1 September, CAF ended a 12-year contract which ran from 2017 to 2028.

The broadcasting firm has vowed to take legal steps to challenge and overturn the cancellation, CAF has accused the broadcaster of breaching its contract and instructed its lawyers to recover the outstanding payments.

“BeIN owes CAF $98 million and they have refused to pay for nearly two years,” a source close to the matter told BBC Sport Africa.

“The last time beIN paid CAF was in February 2022 and that was only after CAF threatened to remove beIN’s rights to broadcast the final stages of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).”

CAF and beIN Sports met after the 2022 AFCON to negotiate regarding the contract rights and how they have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

BeIN wanted to reduce the total sum of its contract given the Covid-enforced cancellation of two events – the 2020 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and the 2021 Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations Cup – it had previously agreed to pay for.

While the Qatari media group is also insisting upon a further reduction to the original deal, given what it calls “Covid’s wider disruption” to the African football calendar, CAF believes the various tournaments postponed by the pandemic were beyond their control.

Given the cancellations, CAF reduced the total sum by more than $2m – but this failed to prompt beIN to fulfil its payments.

One area African football’s governing body may highlight in the dispute is AFCON’s expansion since the deal came into force six years ago.

With the competition growing from 16 teams to 24 from 2019 onwards, an extra 20 games have been added to the finals – meaning an additional 40 matches over the last two tournaments, yet CAF has not asked its broadcast partners for any further payments.

CAF’s communications director Lux September refused to be drawn on the above when asked for comment.

A BeIN spokesperson agreed that the last payment to CAF was nearly 18 months ago, albeit with a different recollection about its nature.

“We paid a goodwill payment of $32.5m in February 2022 during AFCON,” the spokesperson said.

“Given the nature of our ongoing dispute regarding contractual issues, we could have paid nothing at all. But we did in goodwill – and in the context of investing hundreds of millions of dollars in CAF over more than a decade, and being CAF’s broadcast partner in nearly 40 countries worldwide.”

Admitting that it owes “$88.3m plus interest”, beIN – which says it sees “no extra value” in the expanded 24-team AFCON – has simply refused to pay as it seeks reductions which CAF has not been agreeing to.

BeIN also believes the new FIFA-backed African Football League (AFL), has further reduced the worth of its rights given the African Champions League has seemingly been usurped by the arrival of the elite eight-team event.

“In introducing a new top-tier tournament, you destroy the value of the previous rights while asking for more money for new rights,” said the beIN spokesperson.

There are rumours that CAF and beIN Sports have left the door open for negotiations and it is not excluded that the CAF Champions League, Africa Cup of Nations and the rest of the African tournaments will eventually be back on their platform.