‘Tough act to follow’ — John Comitis coy on replacing Irvin Khoza if the chance arises

John Comitis during the Cape Town City FC media open day at Hartleyvale Stadium on 29 March 2018 in Cape Town. Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

By Yanga Sibembe

13 Oct 2024

The long-time soccer administrator, Cape Town City co-owner and former soccer player shares his thoughts on what the future, both near and distant, holds for South African soccer.

Over the past few decades, Premier Soccer League (PSL) chairperson Irvin Khoza has firmly established himself as one of the most important administrators, not just in soccer but also in the overall realm of South African sport.

Khoza is one of the founding members of the two-tier PSL in 1996. The two divisions are the top-flight Premiership and the second division, also known as the Championship.

When the PSL holds its annual meeting in mid-November, one of the burning issues will be electing a new executive committee to replace the one elected in 2020. Within that is the question of whether the league’s chairperson of two decades, Khoza, will decide to put his hand up for re-election.

In the event that Khoza does call time on his career later in 2024, the likes of SuperSport United chief executive Stan Matthews and Cape Town City co-owner John Comitis would be genuine contenders to fill his extra-large shoes.

In a conversation with Daily Maverick, Comitis said Khoza’s departure has not been discussed by the executive committee as yet.

Read more: The big Iron Duke question — will Irvin Khoza step down after more than 20 years?

“There are two or three candidates who would be capable of stepping in there. But it’s never going to be an easy pass. The bar is set high,” Comitis said.

“The level of experience coming from Dr Khoza is incomparable. He’s constantly come up with solutions for how to keep improving the league. So, it’s a tough act to follow. But time will tell what should happen. The group of chairs we have around will have to step up and find a solution.”

Considering his vast experience, having been at the helm of PSL teams such as Cape Town Spurs, Ajax Cape Town and now City, the league chairmanship is something that Comitis would probably excel in. For now, though, he is fully focused on securing City’s long-term future.

Stadium plans

This includes plans for the club to build its own stadium. In the past Comitis has bemoaned the fact that Cape Town Stadium is shared by soccer and rugby, saying it compromises the quality of the field and thus the quality of the spectacle.

City have also had to move some games from the marquee Fifa 2010 World Cup venue because it was not available to them. This, and the financial strain of leasing the venue from the municipality, has regularly frustrated Comitis.

The Cape Town side are not the only ones who face this struggle. None of the 16 Premiership clubs has its own stadium.

Read more: Cape Town City owner John Comitis is right, Pirates and Chiefs are good for business

“The biggest challenge with PSL clubs… is that we struggle greatly with facilities, in order to have proper academies set up at each club. Historically, rugby and cricket have had the best facilities in the country. As football, we got the leftovers,” Comitis said.

“What also happened is that when we had the World Cup, from the nine stadiums, we were supposed to secure a kind of anchor tenantship. We never did that. Today, more rugby is being played out of the football stadiums than anything.

“Ultimately, we [City] need to build our own stadium and our own home base. We’ve had a lot of support from the mayor’s office in terms of trying to achieve that.”

Comitis John Comitis during a Cape Town City media open day at Hartleyvale Stadium in Cape Town on 29 March 2018. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images)

Financial chess

Unless you’re Mamelodi Sundowns, Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates, the financial demands of this can undo you. Comitis said the exclusive broadcast agreement deal that the league has with MultiChoice is integral to helping the “smaller” clubs survive.

The PSL and MultiChoice first agreed terms in 2007, for what was then a staggering figure of just more than R1-billion over five years. The agreement transformed the South African top flight into one of the most followed leagues on the continent and beyond.

It also ensured that more matches would be broadcast. At the time, the previous rights holders, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), could only broadcast a limited number of matches because of its overall broadcast obligations and limited channel capacity.

More importantly, it could not match the financial muscle of MultiChoice, a situation that has worsened in recent years.

The development was unfortunate in that the South African masses could not access their beloved sport at will, with the SABC relying on acquiring sublicences from SuperSport in order to show a handful of games.

In the past the SABC has tried to challenge this through the Competition Commission, accusing SuperSport of monopolising the broadcast rights.

Comitis says it is not this simple.

After all, clubs that are not the “big three” depend heavily on seasonal grants from the PSL. A large portion of these grants is funded by the broadcast rights, as well as contributions from the league’s other corporate partners.

Read more: South Africa’s soccer stars move north, with various factors contributing to the shift

The rest comes from the pockets of the club owners, in the event that they don’t have enough sponsors.

“What we have is a very great broadcast deal with MultiChoice/SuperSport. That broadcast deal, [because of] the fact that it’s an exclusive deal, brings a lot of revenue into the league on a yearly basis,” Comitis said.

“This allows us to at least have a base revenue to run our clubs. It’s not quite enough, but it’s certainly one of the biggest broadcast deals [in the world]. Certainly, the biggest one in Africa. That is the anchor of our funding.

“We’ve had a 15-year run of a sustainable product, because of our broadcast deal. Every time the Competition Commission or any other TV station challenges the exclusivity of the SuperSport deal, it wobbles the foundation of the product.

Club building 101

Comitis – a Wits University alumnus and qualified mechanical engineer as well as a former soccer player – says his proudest moment in the sport was being involved in the birth of Ajax.

Comitis’s Cape Town Spurs merged with Rob Moore’s Seven Stars to form Ajax in 1999, with the backing of their Netherlands-based namesake.

Ajax became one of the most beloved clubs in South African soccer, as they consistently produced exciting youngsters and challenged for honours. The City owner says creating such a formidable club requires a lot of juggling.

“We have natural talent, but you have to put up resources and the correct training methods… If you start kids from a young age you have a fighting chance of producing a top PSL club,” Comitis said.

“You have to get a good balance between building your academy, building your first team and then… bringing in… revenue by selling players.” DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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Stadium plans

Financial chess

Club building 101