The Ghana Premier League's association with Chinese broadcaster, StarTimes has officially ended.

After eight years, it is unclear who benefited from the initial, ten-year $17.9 million deal, that was renegotiated to four years for $5.25 million. StarTimes are yet to publish their figures for the contract period so it is hard to tell what they got from this. But you do not need any forensic audit to establish that the clubs did not make significant gains from the partnership.

The contract sum meant that clubs would never receive significant sums from the deal. In the end, up to $4,000,000 was distributed to clubs over the four years.

Sharing ratio.

Hearts of Oak won the 2020/21 title; the first completed season under the renegotiated deal

In 2020, Kotoko's season opener against Techiman Eleven Wonders clocked 42,000 views on the StarTimes App alone. In sharp contrast, the four other matches that were shown live only summed up to a disappointing 5,000 views.

Kotoko's viewing numbers were the most impressive for the season, as thousands - and in some cases, tens of thousands paid to watch their matches. Their rivals, Accra Hearts of Oak, also recorded impressive numbers. There are no prizes for guessing which teams made the most money for Chinese broadcasters through the StarTimes App. Yet, these two behemoths were bullied into submission when it came to the distribution of TV rights money.

Per convention, teams with the biggest pulling power receive a larger share of the TV rights money for the viewership they command. In England, for example, the Premier League splits revenue from TV rights into two. Half of the total sum is shared equally among the twenty clubs. The other half is shared on merit basis.

But this is Ghana, where very little makes sense.

Last season's Hearts versus Kotoko fixture was one of the most viewed matches of the season

What is baffling is how the two clubs; Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko, have essentially succumbed to the current arrangement as though they are oblivious to the value they bring to the table.

For their troubles, they received $30,000 each season. For context, that amount is only one percent of how much Mahmoud Kahraba earns annually at Egyptian giants Al Ahly.

Incompetence.

Despite keeping a close fist on TV rights, StarTimes was surprisingly liberal with digital rights. Content creators and various YouTube and Facebook users were allowed to download and post highlights of league matches. Even for accounts that could not monetize the views, the numbers helped build their platforms.

Somehow, the Premier clubs were nonchalant about this. All they had to do was download and post the same videos shared by the broadcaster. But they did not.

In the past ten months, Dreams FC posted more matches from their CAF Confederation Cup run than they did for the Ghana Premier League. The only highlights content from the league was from their match against Asante Kotoko.

In the same period, Asante Kotoko posted the highlights of four league matches from the season. Three of them were posted in the past month. The bulk of their online content is made of behind-the-scenes videos and training ground, camp shots.

So Kotoko fans who missed out on league matches will have no choice but to go and watch the highlights on StarTime's official page. That is more revenue for StarTimes.

The only plausible explanation for missing out on such revenue is that these clubs do not understand the value of new media.

It cannot be because they view these monies as insignificant. Each of these clubs is close to insolvency. The few who meet their contractual obligations and can afford the cost of running a full season rely entirely on their owners. They have little to no internally generated funds.

That is why it is disappointing that they cannot pluck such low-hanging fruits.

Content failure.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the actual content from StarTimes. It appears they assumed that without curating compelling content, merely showing matches would be enough. Having Atsrim Sitsofe and Nana Darkwa on commentary was a master stroke. So was the presence of Felix Romark, a data analyst who runs perhaps the most credible database on Ghana football at Ghana Premier League Live. Yaw Ampofo Ankrah's mastery on matchdays was refreshing too.

But that was that. Unlike IMG's Production for the Premier League, there were no compelling magazine shows, fan-focused content, or light-hearted content featuring the principal actors of the game; the players.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson would be proud! The excellent pair of Sitsofe Atsrim (left) and (right) Nana Darkwa Gyasi provided more entertainment than the football itself

Sitsofe has since moved on to other projects but you cannot help but wonder that he and the entire crew were under-utilized. For someone with an uncommon capacity (especially among broadcasters) to make sense of tactical trends and make them relatable, StarTimes underutilized Sitso. Not just him. Felix Romark too. Asking him to analyze lineups and provide context to the recent form of competing teams was just not enough. In the end, there were no such tactical breakdowns, or other content that would extend conversations on the league beyond match days. Ultimately, the biggest influence of narratives regarding the league remained radio and television channels that did not even have broadcast rights. StarTimes did not move the needle in this regard.

What next?

As meager as it seemed, the TV rights revenue was the only money clubs got for participating in the league last season. With the contract now ended, the GFA will be out to sell the rights to the highest bidder. Given the product's current state, chances are that broadcasters will not be lining up in their thousands for the television rights.

You do not have to spend a million dollars on a survey to find out why. The league is simply not attractive. It has no stardust, no identity, the football is not great, it lacks integrity and the individual brands that constitute the product have lost their religious following. When you throw in competing products like the major European leagues, entertainment content, etc, the situation gets exacerbated. The paradigm will not shift unless there is a well-thought-through plan, to add value to the league.

That should start with making the league more accessible than ever before. If it means giving the broadcast rights out to local broadcasters for next to no fee, so be it.

StarTimes crew at a league match. Photo credit: footy-ghana.com

Prioritize its accessibility and avoid putting soulless games on television.

That allows the football-loving children of Devego in the Ketu North district, or Tikobo Number One in the Western Region, to have access to the league and hopefully develop some affinity for it before they develop an exotic taste for the Mbappe's and the La Liga's of this world. Currently, there is no known initiative that targets the next generation of football fans in Ghana. Or even the current generation. Clubs just assume that, because people grow up in Ghana, they will automatically support one or the other. Such a silly sense of entitlement!

How do we make up for the revenue losses occasioned by this? Government. And taxes.

Given its public interest component, it would not be out of place to make the case for the government to make a financial intervention. Even amidst austerity, the government could support the league with two million dollars annually for the next five years. Half of that amount could be considered as a loan, to be paid back within an agreeable period to be reinvested into the youth football. Long term, a percentage of the 2023 betting tax should be invested into football and the Ghana Premier League.