The 27th running of the Soweto Marathon will take place in the renowned township in just over two weeks, but shockingly, organizers are still scrambling to find a broadcast contract.
The Soweto Marathon Trust’s Sello Khunou said on Tuesday that talks to broadcast the People’s Race on the SABC are now underway.
Despite the fact that Athletics South Africa, the organization that governs the sport, declared with much fanfare that they had signed a broadcast agreement with pay-channel SuperSport that “would see all the big running events being telecast live,” this still occurs.
During the race’s route scouting, Khunou spoke to the media in front of the late archbishop Desmond Tutu’s home on the renowned Vilakazi Street, but he refused to go into specifics about the ASA broadcast agreement.
“Discussions over that specific TV broadcast score are still ongoing. Khunou was only willing to say, “We are in discussions with the SABC, and until we have reached a deal, it would be counterproductive for us to be saying anything.
On the contrary, according to ASA President James Moloi, events like the Soweto Marathon are covered under their agreement with SuperSport and come within their purview.
The Soweto Marathon is one of the races that are allowed to be broadcast under the terms of the constitution, according to ASA. We have reminded our affiliate CGA (Central Gauteng Athletics) in a letter that they should inform the Soweto Marathon of our broadcast agreement with SuperSport, Moloi added.
It’s possible that the renowned marathon and ASA will collide given that the Soweto Marathon Trust is now in discussions with the SABC.
It would seem that the impacted race organizers, who had previously conducted their own negotiations for transmission, were not adequately informed of ASA’s decision to sign the broadcast agreement with SuperSport, if at all.
ASA’s lack of openness over the broadcast arrangement has drawn criticism from certain sectors of the running community. Many have bemoaned the fact that the amount of the agreement was not made public, or at the very least disclosed to the clubs.
However, ASA would undoubtedly respond that they work through its affiliates, like CGA, rather than clubs directly.
In any event, there isn’t much time left for the parties to agree on a broadcast contract for one of South Africa’s most well-attended races, which is still without a title sponsor.
Finding a headline sponsor following the Covid-19 epidemic is incredibly tough, according to Khunou, who said this during the interview.
“All the businesses are focusing on their primary operations right now, and they will consider their side initiatives after they have taken care of their bottom line. Therefore, Covid severely hurt us since we are unable to get a headline sponsor, Khunou remarked.
The event’s chairwoman expressed satisfaction with the amount of registrations received, however, and said that they anticipate having roughly 20 000 runners congregate at the FNB Stadium precinct on November 6 to compete in the full marathon, half marathon, and 10km events.