SuperSport may lose AFCON 2027 broadcasting rights — TimesLIVE
Pay-TV channel SuperSport may fail to secure broadcasting rights for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, which will be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The Confederation of African Football is nearing the completion of its evaluation of bids and is expected to announce the winner of the tender in the coming weeks, TimesLIVE reports.
Competition for the rights
According to the publication, at least 15 companies have expressed interest in the tournament's broadcasting rights. AFCON 2027 is scheduled to take place from June 19 to July 17.
An anonymous TimesLIVE source familiar with the procedure claims that SuperSport submitted a bid, but its offer is significantly lower than those of other participants. According to the source, the main competition is between New World TV and Sport TV, which have made substantial offers.
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Value of media rights
The same source said that the value of AFCON media rights has risen by more than 150%. CAF sells the rights separately for each tournament. According to these data, SuperSport paid approximately 105 million rand for the rights to the previous AFCON tournament in Morocco, while beIN Sports pays around 1.5 billion rand for one tournament.
For the tournament in Morocco, SuperSport obtained a sublicense from New World TV, an agent that, according to TimesLIVE, holds exclusive CAF media rights. This enabled the channel to provide full AFCON coverage for English- and Portuguese-speaking audiences in Africa.
CAF's head of television and broadcasting, Lux September, said the organization is completing its evaluation of bids and concluding several commercial agreements for AFCON 2027. He also noted that CAF President Patrice Motsepe is actively involved in the work of the commercial team and secretariat to ensure maximum financial returns for the 54 member associations. SuperSport did not respond to TimesLIVE's request for comment.
