The League Management Company (LMC) has sealed a strategic agreement with Next TV Digital and 9Mobile on the production of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) contents for local and international markets.
The five-year agreement which the LMC is aiming will produce $200million within the next five years was consummated on Tuesday in Abuja between the LMC Chairman, Shehu Dikko, Chairman of Next TV Digital, Prince Ado Ibrahim and the Acting Director of 9Mobile, Olayiwola Onafowokan.
Dikko lauded the partnership by noting that it is only Nigerians that redeem the country.
He said with the technicality of Next, LMC can produce NPFL content, which can be distributed to more than 20 million Nigerians in Diaspora.
He said the objective of the transaction is to have a partner that will produce contents for the NPFL in the same way Laliga and EPL have the producers of their own content.
Dikko also added that the partnership will boast LMC’s revenue streams as they can have enough fund that can be put into one pot.
“Every cash will be put into one pot and at the end of the day, we will have enough revenue so that we can catch up with the developed leagues. We want to see all our matches on all global networks as soon as possible,” Dikko said.
Speaking at the occasion, Prince Ibrahim, described the transaction with LMC as an exciting day for him.
He said Next had resolved to put its investment into the game for the next five years, stressing that at the end, Nigerians and Africans will appreciate what they are doing.
“We can leverage the popularity of soccer as a unifying game by putting our local league contents on digital for a population of 200 million people. And for our young population, which stands at 100 million, the only way to connect with them is by putting our football matches on digital,” Prince Ibrahim said.
He emphasized that the future of football broadcast in Nigeria is through Over The Top (OTT) which can be shared via mobile telephone driven by 5G technology.
On his part, Onafowokan described the deal as a Nigerian partnership.
He said 9Mobile believes in Next TV as the future that will disrupt digital TV in the country.
Onafowokan said Nigerians require data to access OTT, saying with 9 Mobile quality data, they will provide exclusive bundles to enable access to all OTT platforms at a subsidized rate.
