By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE THAI private sector would probably be encouraged to substantially finance live broadcasts of the FIFA World Cup 2026 from North America during next month and July other than rely on an inadequate government budget in the face of expensive broadcasting rights.
Prime Minister’s Office Minister Supamas Isarabhakdi said today (May 19) the government might probably have to find potential private sponsors for the World Cup tournament to be jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada during June 12 and July 20 since, she commented, the FIFA broadcasting rights were considered “unfairly costly” for Thailand.
Without elaborating, Supamas remarked the FIFA broadcasting rights for the World Cup soccer tournament comprising a total of 104 matches vary in price from one country to another. For instance, Thailand has been asked to pay the price which would be “unfairly costly” and higher than that offered to another country though the former roughly has a 70-million population, compared to the latter’s one-billion population, according to the Bhumjaithai-attached Prime Minister’s Office minister.
The broadcasting rights for the FIFA World Cup 2026 is expected to amount to some two billion baht, compared to some 1.4 billion baht charged for the FIFA World Cup 2022 held in Qatar.
Supamas apparently made her comments amidst news reports that the Bhumjaithai-led government has eventually given up the idea to funnel an estimated 1.3 billion baht in government budget primarily earmarked for the funding of research and development schemes under care of the National Broadcasting & Telecommunications Commission to finance the sought-after live broadcasts of the World Cup games with the balance supposedly being taken care of by the private sector. The NBTC has been tasked with finding any potential sponsors for World Cup live broadcasts from those host countries.
The Prime Minister’s Office minister said the private sector has not yet expressed interest in financing such live broadcasts, probably due to the unfavourable economic environment. Most soccer matches are scheduled for a total of 48 national teams to play between 3.00 a.m. and 9.00 a.m., thus being deemed too early for business hours and hardly attractive to potential private sponsors, she said.
She concluded that the live broadcasting of the World Cup tournament, held every four years, would rather not be considered “very cost-effective”, albeit to the disappointment of international soccer fans among the Thais, as far as any of the taxpayer’s money is concerned.
But Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has earlier eagerly confirmed that the Thais nationwide will considerably enjoy viewing live broadcasts of the World Cup games since several of his predecessors managed to provide them for free over the past decades.
However, not all the 104 matches would be broadcast live to Thailand, particularly in the first and second rounds of the tournament, according to the prime minister.
Argentina, England, France and Spain are reportedly favourite teams to win the FIFA World Cup 2026 with the Argentines being reigning champions from the previous tournament.
CAPTIONS:
Top – The New York/New Jersey’s FIFA World Cup 2026 logo is revealed during the kickoff event in Times Square in New York City, US, on May 18, 2023. File photo – Reuters/Brendan McDermid and published by CNA
Front Page – For the first time there will 48 national teams competing in World Cup tournament. Photo – Reuters/Phil Noble and published by PPTVHD36
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