For fans of Krasnodar, August 13 will go down in history forever as one of the most memorable days in the history of the team. The wards of Murad Musev created a sensation, taking the lead over Porto as a guest, thanks to which they approached the conquest of the first ticket to the Champions League group stage in the club’s history. However, this event was overshadowed by the fact that Russian fans were deprived of the opportunity to watch this match both on publicly available and on cable television.
A few minutes before the starting whistle, when domestic fans were already preparing to support their team, the broadcast was canceled. Instead of it, to the complete astonishment of the audience, on Match TV they began to show a return match between the Dutch Ajax and the Greek PAOK in Amsterdam, and on the specialized paid channel Match Premier, they repeated the first game between Krasnodar and Porto.
Misunderstanding quickly gave way to resentment and public dissatisfaction with the work of the television channel, responsible for providing the show. The official statement on the Match TV Twitter account did not smooth the situation, but, on the contrary, caused an even greater storm of emotions from the fans.
“For reasons beyond the control of the channel, the broadcast of the match between Porto and Krasnodar will not take place,” the statement said.
Russian fans began to look for working links to the broadcast on all kinds of sites, and were able to see it in the official app of the Porto football club. As you know, at the qualifying stage of the Champions League, the hosts of the matches are responsible for the show, as a result of which the Portuguese Grand had exclusive rights and was responsible for their implementation. Usually the teams are very willing to grant the right to broadcast to other countries and channels, but the “dragons” decided to do otherwise.
“Guys, I understand that it’s easier for you to tear up my tape because there is nobody else to write. But what can a channel do if the club has broadcast rights and hasn’t sold them to anyone at all, but decided to show them only in its application? You don’t have to go out in wit, we are all victims today, ”wrote Match TV commentator Konstantin Genich on Twitter.
At this point, various versions of what was happening appeared in the media. According to one of them, negotiations between the Russian TV channel and Porto took place over the course of a week, but no agreement was reached. It was noted that the reason for this was the "indefatigable appetites" of the Portuguese side, which at a crucial moment demanded an unprecedented amount for showing the meeting - ten times more than the market.
Another version of the reason for canceling the broadcast was also discussed on the network. Allegedly, “Match TV” and “Porto” have contracts with different bookmakers, and therefore the TV channel could not allow the advertisement of its partner’s competitor to appear on the billboards, as a result of which it was forced to refuse to show the match.
“Regarding the broadcast ... At this stage, the rights, as a rule, belong to clubs, and most likely Porto requested unrealistic money from Match TV. A similar situation was with Zenit in games with Nacional in 2009. I remember they requested € 1 million instead of € 10-15 thousand, ”wrote Ilya Gerkus, former president of Lokomotiv, on a social network.
It is noteworthy that the "dragons" were not condescending even to their national television channels. According to Sport-Express, the blue-white ones set a price tag of € 200 thousand for local broadcasters for broadcasting the match with Krasnodar. No one agreed, as a result of which the game was shown exclusively in the club’s application.
At the same time, it was reported that even Krasnodar, which at some point joined in the negotiations, tried to influence Porto’s decision. There is information that the “bulls” were ready to contribute to the purchase of broadcast rights, but also rated the requirements of the owners as super-high.
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“Krasnodar” in the first half destroyed “Port” on Dragao and survived in the second 🔞
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Boa sorte, @ FCPortopic.twitter.com / dV4LyMoWuw
Even taking into account the similar greed of the Portuguese, it remains unclear how the fans emphasize why “Match TV” was in full swing promoting the broadcast of the “Porto” - “Krasnodar” meeting, not having in their hands a signed contract for its showing. Initially, it turned out that the television channel devoted more than one story to this game, organized a pre-match program with the participation of Russian football stars such as Alexander Mostovoy and Vladimir Bystrov, but could not do the most important thing - to agree with the Portuguese.
Also, people were outraged that the channel did not warn them about emerging problems in the negotiations that threatened to cancel the broadcast. The difficulties became known even an hour and a half before the starting whistle, but a message about the cancellation of the broadcast appeared a few seconds before its scheduled start.
“The TV rights for this match belong directly to the Porto club. Despite agreeing on the conditions and having a signed agreement, 1.5 hours before the game, Porto changed the conditions and refused to provide access to the signal from the Dragau stadium. Also, not a single broadcaster in Portugal could negotiate with this club. Broadcasting takes place exclusively in the official club application “Porto”. The match TV channel wishes Krasnodar victory, ”the channel said.
As the creative director of Match TV Gavriil Gordeev explained, the agreement was indeed signed, but then Porto suddenly decided to change its terms.
“We have signed an agreement with the Portuguese side, everything was fine. But at the last moment they demanded cash, as in the 90s. That is, they asked for money in advance. And there was a decent amount, very decent. All conditions of the transaction were met, but at the last moment they said: “We will not give a signal until you send the money.” And we physically could not make the translation, ”Sportbox quotes Gordeeva.
At the same time, the “dragons” limited themselves to the comments of the press attache Francisco Mendes. He could not substantively tell about the situation, but shared his opinion on this subject.
“I can’t say anything. I only know that I have always heard one thing - we give the right to broadcast if we are paid in advance, ”Mendes concluded.
It is noteworthy that the friction between Match TV and Porto did not end there. So, the team did not allow Russian journalists to attend the press conference without letting them into the hall.
“When we interviewed Suleymanov, we waved our hands in every way and demanded to leave the edge. The tearful "Porto" followed us. Immediately after the interview, a man approached us - apparently from the club. He did not introduce himself and asked to leave the stadium for unknown reasons. Our attempts to enter the mixed zone and the press conference were unsuccessful. The guard asked us to wait for the main person from the press service, who, apparently, will deal with us. The real crime story. We even had to cross the street to make an inclusion. Perhaps we are waiting for a conversation with the police, ”said the journalist of the TV channel Denis Levko.
Apparently, the trial regarding the lack of broadcast is not yet completed. According to Gordeev, “Match TV” may file a lawsuit against “Port” in order to obtain compensation.
“We are offended that we did not receive the broadcast, although we agreed. I’m not dealing with this issue; we’re trying to understand if there can be some kind of court proceedings. Any sanctions should be in any case, ”concluded Gordeev.