RIYADH: The General Sport Authority (GSA), the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) and Saudi Telecom Group (STC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for STC to obtain the exclusive rights to broadcast Saudi domestic competitions and the Saudi Arabian national team’s matches, as well as marketing sponsorship for the professional association league, the Saudi Federation, the referees committee and the General Sports Authority contests. The MoU was signed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Sports Authority Mr.Turki bin Abdulmohsen Al-Sheikh, STC Executive Chairman Dr. Khaled Al-Bayari and SAFF Chairman Dr. Adel Ezzat at a launching ceremony on Monday evening in Riyadh. It was agreed that the duration of the MoU would last for 10 years at a cost of SR6.6 billion. The initial agreement includes the exclusive broadcast rights for the local competitions, the Saudi Professional League, the King’s Cup, the Crown Prince’s Cup, professional league matches and all the Saudi national team matches, of which SAFF retains the broadcasting and sponsorship rights. Regarding the marketing rights in the agreement, they include sponsoring the Saudi Professional League, SAFF, and the referees committee in the league and cup competitions, in addition to technical sponsorship of championships and sponsoring GSA events. This comes as part of the developmental steps that have been implemented by the GSA under the guidance, follow-up and support of Al-Sheikh in various aspects of the sport sector in the Kingdom, in order to ensure the development of football in the country. The agreement is also part of GSA’s keenness to ensure that all its steps and development initiatives are consistent with the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.