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Cape Town - Premier Soccer League chairperson Irvin Khoza has threatened to 'shut down' the PSL in response to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) seeking to amend public broadcasting rights.
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Khoza made the announcement at a press briefing in Johannesburg on Tuesday where he challenged the body and its intention to amend its regulations.
The Sports Broadcasting Services Amendment Regulations 2018 draft breaks up sporting events into three groups - Group A, Group B and Group C - and states that certain sports must be made available to free-to-air broadcasters.
The draft states that events like the (summer) Olympics, Paralympics, Commonwealth Games, Soccer World Cup, Rugby World Cup, Cricket World Cup and international boxing must be considered "compulsory listed national sporting events for a free-to-air licensee with full live coverage."
Group B, which includes tournaments like Super Rugby, the Currie Cup and the PSL, is defined as: "National sporting events offered to a subscription broadcasting licensee on a non-exclusive basis under sub-licencing conditions."
"ICASA wants to do this after the hard work we have put in? Players would not be getting paid as much if it was not for our current funding model. The current broadcast deal took work and time," said Khoza.
"We did not break the law. Everything we did was within the framework. We did the work necessary. The broadcast deal has had an enormous impact on the state of SA football. Without it the PSL dies.
"Without adequate funding, this industry as we know it will collapse and will be back to what it was back in the 1980s. Clubs will cut support staff to the bone and our grant of R11m to SAFA will no longer be available.
"I hope this is an error from ICASA, but it is also a form of exclusion. They did not consult or try to understand our industry.
"We will defend ourselves rigorously. We will exhaust all options available to us. If it is not resolved, we will shut down the PSL."
