KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysian Football League (MFL) and its broadcasting partner Spacelabs Technology are under fire as it is believed that some match commentators of the M-League have yet to receive their payment.
A source from the Football fraternity told The Vibes that a few match commentators are still waiting to get paid since May. According to the contract, the responsibility of paying the commentators lies with SpaceLabs.
This is rather unfair to the commentators who are suffering due to the lockdown imposed by the government.
It is understood that commentators receive, on the average, RM700 per match.
Meanwhile, the source revealed that the reason for the delay in payment is due to cashflow issue faced by SpaceLabs, who themselves are in dire straits because they have not been paid by the MFL.
“They have only received RM2 million or 20% of the agreed RM10 million.
“I am not sure if SpaceLabs have asked MFL for the remainder of the payment because they want to keep a good working relationship with the football body and its Board members,” said the source.
Meanwhile, when The Vibes contacted SpaceLabs CEO Kelvin Cheong, he said that the payments are being processed and the delay is due to some documents that were not submitted.
“The issue is being resolved and the commentators will be paid as soon as possible. We are all in trying times and I am doing my best to get their payments out fast,” he said.
MFL CEO Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan admitted that there has been a slight delay in making payment to SpaceLabs, but there has been no default to date.
“There have been slight delays but we pay SpaceLabs in stages. We just made another payment recently. We are making sure that the payments are done,” said Ghani.
When asked if the MFL have managed to secure any sponsorship for the M-League, Ghani said that there is nothing for now because of the pandemic but added that his commercial team are talking to few potential sponsors.
“We have Hari-Hari but in times like this, it is a challenge to get sponsors. But my commercial team is doing its best to secure sponsorships for the M-League."
Ghani added that negotiations with the Berjaya Group is still on-going.
“We will take it one-step at a time,” he said.
In April, Berjaya Group’s Special Officer Amin Fuad had tweeted that he had received two sponsorship decks from MFL and FAM respectively and that he was told to evaluate the proposal. However, the tweet was later deleted. - The Vibes. July 2, 2021
