The International Association of Association Football (Fifa) has agreed to drop the price of the broadcasting rights for the 2022 World Cup "by a little", according to Sports Authority of Thailand governor Kongsak Yodmanee.
That said, Mr Kongsak said Fifa's dropped price was still above SAT's budget of 1.1 billion baht, which the SAT simply couldn't afford.
As a result, the SAT is hoping Fifa would lower the price further, especially considering the price offered to Thai authorities is "on the higher side" compared to prices offered to Thailand's neighbouring countries.
Football's governing body had initially asked for about 1.6 billion baht in exchange for the broadcasting rights for the 2022 World Cup.
Meanwhile, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the national sports agency yesterday to allocate 600 million baht towards the cost of broadcasting this year's World Cup matches.
The MoU was signed by Mr Kongsak and acting NBTC secretary-general Trairat Viriyasirikul, who emphasised the agencies' commitment to try and broadcast the tournament on free-to-air TV in Thailand, but neither the NBTC chief nor Mr Kongsak made clear how the country would find the rest of the money.
The financial support from the telecom regulator comes -- controversially -- from its research and development fund.
