Maybe Nigeria is on the threshold of making a history after a gap of more than a decade by winning Africa’s biggest soccer title AFCON on Sunday. But, there is a bad news for more than 160 million soccer fans at home coz they may not be able to watch the final live as there is no deal made with tournament’s official broadcaster to stream it live in Nigeria. This perhaps could be the biggest shock if it happens at last. Actually, it did not happen all of a sudden coz no one at home had imagined that their team would even reach at the knockout stage, but when it entered in the final, broadcasting organization of Nigeria started making best of their affords to get the telecast right of the game. Even they had never thought their team could be in the final coz Nigerian team has been performing desperately in recent times. Moreover, there are many rumors in the air expressing two different opinions on the same, like, on one side, confederation of African football is saying, they have reached a last minute deal with Nigerian broadcasters, while one the other side, local broadcasters are denying signing of any such deal.
Many TV channels at Nigeria are reportedly saying that there is a price dispute on the deal as Africa organizers are demanding around $10 million for the right, and Nigerian broadcasting association has refused to pay so much. According to broadcaster association, they would a lose huge amount of money if they agree to pay what they are asking for; they gave an example of 2010 when state-run Nigerian Television Authority paid over $4 million and suffered heavy losses.
Nigeria has won AFCON cup two times in the past while its challenger Burkina Faso is playing for the first time in the final. Looking at the developments, it is unlikely that there would be a consensus over the issue; however, there are many TV centers in Nigeria where anyone can watch the high profile final at a price. It is rather building up a pressure on government as well, coz if there is no live stream happens of the match in Nigeria and they wins the title, it would have been a greatest nightmare for more than 150 million Nigerian fans not to see the lively moments of the game.