The negotiations between the Football federation FFIRI and IRIB on the subject  respect of broadcast rights of football matches have failed.

The two sides have been conducting a series of meeting in a hope of coming up with an amicable solution. However , the last meeting ended in failure as the two side did not agree on a fee . The broadcast of football matches on TV hangs on a balance. The disagreements seem to be quite big as a wide gap exists between the figures provided by each side for the broadcast right.

Ali Kaffashian , who was counting on the millions of dollars from TV broadcast to support his ailing federation , expressed his deep disappointment for the failure of the negotiations. He accused the IRIB of ignoring football rights and being uncooperative.

 IRIB figure for broadcasting the Football League matches is around 22 Billion toman , which the FFIRI is rejecting as being too low.   Kaffashian said that IRIB revenue from advertising during football matches is worth at least 4 times their proposed figure.

Asked by ISNA if this is the end of the long negotiations between the two parties, Kaffashian confirmed that there will be no more negotiation as IRIBI is steadfastly standing behind their original figure. “We will start a motion to prevent IRIB from broadcasting our league matches. The executive committee of the federation will meet soon and takes the appropriate action”

Asked if such motion has the support of the government, Kaffashian confirmed that the Ministry of youth and sport is supporting the federation in its demands. However, he admitted that other organs might have something to say about the issue of preventing the cameras from entering the stadia!.

On the other hand, IRIB rejected Kaffashian’s claims and accusations.

Majeed Zein-ul Abedin , head of Shabakeh 3 and chairman of development and strategy committee of IRIB , said in statement  “IRIB does not deal with threats and intimidation” referring to Kaffashian’s threat of banning the TV cameras.

“We have studied the market, checked our advertising revenue , conducted our due diligence and came up with the proposed figure we offered the football federation. We are committed to sports and football broadcasting and promotion. We are a government organization and both of our revenues and expenditures are under scrutiny and auditing as it is public money. We are held accountable for it.”

Zein-ul Abedin added “We have been buying TV broadest right for Iran for many years and are experienced in this field. We know the values of each competition. What we offered football is the best deal that we can do according to our research and studies not just on impulses or wishes. We should also remind the football federation that we are committed to other sports as well. There are many sport federations that have honored this country and we have a national obligation to broadcast their activities. None of them have asked for payment as football does.”

That last statement is probably a hint against the football federation which has failed to win any titles or glories for Iran, while sports such as Volleyball , basketball and handball of the country are becoming globally recognized.