Clubs do not expect the creation of a new soccer channel in Ecuador, but they do expect GolTV to fulfill commitments

Failure to pay by GolTV for television rights provoked the claim of several leaders of the teams of the series A of the Ecuadorian Soccer Professional League (LigaPro); however, most of them support maintaining the contract with the television company.

In this phase of claims, a news item emerged announcing that the president of the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF), Francisco Egas, and a senior government official from Guillermo Lasso they had planned to create a state soccer channel.

EL UNIVERSO newspaper consulted Egas about this possibility and he limited himself to answering: “I don’t know who installed that idea, there has never been any interest or intention of such a thing.”

For his part Juan Carlos Holguin, close to Egas and an advisor to President Guillermo Lasso, indicated: “I am not aware of this issue, as I am not linked to that discussion. But it would be a huge mistake to think about making a state channel for football. Those models have failed everywhere ”.

On the occasion of the World Cup qualifying match that was played at the stadium Monumental Banco Pichincha, on October 7 between Ecuador and Bolivia (3-0), the Ecuadorian soccer leaders met with Egas and Michelangelo Loor, president of LigaPro,

Regarding this meeting, the president of Barcelona Sporting Club, Carlos Alejandro Alfaro Moreno, denies that the termination of the contract for television rights with GolTV. “The day the national team played in our stadium, a meeting was called to discuss different issues with the clubs, with the representatives of the clubs, and where he was also invited. Michelangelo Loor. The issue of television rights was touched upon and what we expressed is that in addition to the relationship that unites us for television rights through LigaPro, the reality is that GolTV is one of our main sponsors, so we have, in addition to those rights, another type of much stronger relationship. Nothing to do with the approach of breaking the contract with GolTV. The concern about the delays was raised, like many, due to the issue of the pandemic, that was discussed and absolutely nothing else ”.

For his part Nassib Neme, President of Club Sport Emelec also clarified that he was unaware of the intentions to break the contract with GolTV. “Personally I am not first-hand informed. I guess Messrs Deller (Michell) and Egas (Francisco) aren’t going to try”.

The main leader of the Orense Sporting Club, Martha Romero de Palacios, also denied that there is an agreement between clubs to request that the contract with the Uruguayan company be broken. “It is a lie that this happens. We are looking for that GolTV pay us and there is a commission that will deal with them to achieve the payment, “said the president of the Machaleño club.

Ivan mendoza, main leader of the Guayaquil City, He referred to the meeting held by the leaders at the Monumental stadium. “We were summoned to a meeting by the FEF in which this issue (payment of television rights) was discussed, although it was not stipulated in the summons. We do not believe that the FEF should have any interference in this matterObviously without this preventing us from being able to dialogue with President Egas (Francisco) on issues of common interest between clubs, and we also do not believe in breaking contracts without first exhausting all possible alternatives. Hopefully LigaPro and GolTV they can solve the problem as soon as possible ”.

Miller Salazar, president of Macara, asked if he knew of any proposal to break the contract with GolTV he pointed. “I have known absolutely nothing. We are defending the company that has the television rights and obviously we are hoping that these days it can solve because they told us that between October, November and December they were going to deposit a significant amount of money and that the issue would be solved. This November 4 there is a meeting between a Commission and the people of GolTV and we hope that on that date everything will be solved ”.

Miguel Ángel Loor, in an interview with Diario EL UNIVERSO, on October 19, about the possibility of CNT presenting an offer to broadcast football, stated: “You can present proposals, but at the end of the day LigaPro has a signed contract with GolTV and that contract we are going to respect it because that’s how things should be done ”.

For his part, Esteban Paz, on October 20 on the channel that owns the television rights, said: “The issue of GolTV it’s complicated; is a strategic partner of Ecuadorian soccer, they have done a good job, but there are also discrepancies and differences, what is normal. I am very concerned if in the future GolTV it does not adapt to the reality of what happens with television rights. TV Cable (now XTRIM TV Cable) and CNT (which do not broadcast Ecuadorian football) are a big loss, “he said in dialogue with the station. Sports area. (D)