Big Three Sports Determined To Stay Fit and Use Time To Plan

Big Three Sports Determined To Stay Fit and Use Time To Plan

April 11, 2020

Football, Track and Field and Horseracing are indeed the “big three” of sports in Jamaica as they were featured on the April 9, 2020 Television Jamaica special live “town hall” programme “COVID-19 The Economy of Sports” where Jordan Forte served as host.

Six panelists on the live programme were: Minister of Culture, Gender Entertainment and Sport Hon Olivia “Babsy Grange”; Sports Marketing Specialist, Carole Beckford; National Track and Field Coach, Principal of Sprint Tech and Principal of the GC Foster College, Maurice Wilson; Former Olympic sprinter and President of the Jamaica Olympians Association, Marvin Anderson; JFF National Team Manager Roy Simpson and; Chairman of Main Events Entertainment Group, Chairman of Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment (SVRE) and Chairman of Caymanas Park, Solomon Sharpe.

The focus of the discussion was about what the actors across sporting bodies should be doing during the COVID-19 shutdown of all sporting activities which started on March 10 with the announcement of the first person infected in Jamaica. The Sport of Kings was the last to stop activities on March 22.

Accepting the courtesy of delivering opening statements, Grange said that the ministry had been giving financial support to Olympians and that sporting associations will continue to receive monthly subventions. With regards to other athletes and local clubs, Grange indicated that the government is looking at responses, including one-off grants and applications, through the GoJ CARE programme, which has the scope to assist sports and the creative sectors.

The heartbreak of course is the impact that the shutdown has had on athletes. National squash champion, Christopher Binnie, said that missing about six tournaments, so far, had a real impact on his income. Elite national hurdler Danielle Williams who spectacularly qualified for last year’s world games outside of national trials now sees another setback for an Olympic debut.

Beckford, who staged the professional conference series, The Business of Sport, said since the start of the year, 330 accumulated days of active sport has been lost so far, with football, track and field and netball accounting for 70% of these fixtures. Additionally, 20 of 92 horseracing days have already been lost. Horseracing is estimated to directly and indirectly provide employment for 12,000 individuals, including medical professionals, farmers and persons involved in the betting environment.

The word from the representatives of the sporting associations was that athletes should focus on staying in shape, and those under contract should get help to professionally review how the situation could have an impact on them and what actions they can take to mitigate the effects. Track coach Wilson said that this is a watershed year and that in the last two to three weeks he has seen developments in sport and that Jamaica must capitalize on them. He said that the payment that government has been making to athletes was very appreciated. From his position as educator with knowledge of the importance of qualifications in sport, Wilson said that athletes and other persons in the industry should be using this time to earn certification that can build their brand. Wilson also said that coaches are having regular sessions with their athletes, motivating them and reminding them that it is in their interest and their responsibility to keep in shape.

Anderson of the Olympians' association said that athletes are being kept informed about developments and guided how to be ready for next moves. He said there were no quick fixes but repeated that athletes must maintain physical activity. On the matter of contracts, he said that each contract is different, but most earnings come from competition, and not all expire in an Olympic year. He said that the association is advising athletes to go through their contracts with an attorney to ensure that they complete all their obligations, irrespective of whether they can attended meets or not, and understand what to expect and how to act in their best interest.

For football, Simpson said that each national player has a training schedule that starts on Tuesday, and players will be called back in small groups at the end of the month to be tested. With regards to overseas based players, their programmes are monitored by their clubs, which includes data from GPS. The word that he had for the squad is to get ready for the matches that will come. Sports in Jamaica is embedded in communities, and none more so in this era, than football. Simpson said that the loss of match day economic activity is felt in communities. With the comatose state of football, Simpson said that the role of the federation now is to use the time to do research and to plan.

Horseracing’s needs were outlined by Sharpe who said that all aspects of the care and training of horses is still underway at Caymanas Park and stables and farms across the country. He mentioned that when racing returned, there will not be enough gates to accommodate the conditioned horses.

In addressing the legacy of COVID-19, the panelists said that openness to doing business differently will be important going forward. Beckford noted that Olympians, and other athletes should learn how to use their out-of-event activities to endear themselves to sports lovers and grow a fan base using social media. This, she said included being consistent so that you can become a part of people’s online lives. Giving suggestions such as putting up training and meal preparation activities, Beckford said that international sports stars were doing this wearing branded gear, and the fan base will be considered in negotiations down the road.

Wilson said that he did not see any more athletics meets for the rest of the year for reasons of financing and also fairness. The national coach said that major sponsors, such as shoe companies. were not making any sales, so those sponsorship doors are now closed for the season. On the point of fairness, he noted that federations are built around principles that promote fairness and equity, and that a quick return to competition would be unfair to many athletes whose training would have been disrupted and could not yet have been restored.

Supporting this, Anderson said that when the world will be focused on recovering from the pandemic, sports will not be a top priority. He said that this would be a good time for local athletics bodies to consult and arrive at a definition of amateur athlete and another for professional athlete, and provide appropriate support and career paths for the benefit of both categories.

On the importance of managing risk in staging sporting events, Beckford and Sharpe pointed out that top level British events: Wimbledon tennis championships; and in horseracing Royal Ascot, Grand National and the Derby are covered by pandemic insurance, and that the prescience of these arrangements, they underscored, should not be ignored.

Sharpe said that SVRE had scrutinized the calendar to see what race days can be recovered and were planning to apply to the racing commission as soon as it was appropriate. He highlighted the financial impact of gaming, including non-horseracing gaming, generated more than $7 billion in tax revenue last year. Horseracing, despite employing more people throughout the year than any other sport, is currently a loss leader in the SVRE portfolio. The culture of watching races in Jamaica is in small off-track betting shops, which presents challenges to business growth and development. The SVRE would move to a system of wagering that would diversify the model beyond OTBs, but this may be excessively disruptive to how the sport is enjoyed by its loyal fan base.

The Sports minister said that the country was advanced in discussions with the Commonwealth Secretariat to put in place a framework to gather data on the contribution of sport to national development and the economy. Beckford said that the current time was an opportunity for agencies of the state - and she named the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) and the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) - to collect that data and begin presenting the economic value of sports into the Economic and Social Survey (ESSJ).

The 90 minute programme included a vox pop from a town centre which indicated that the "man on the street" is eager to have sports return to the Jamaican lifestyle.

The 2018 Economic and Social Survey Jamaica (ESSJ) published by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) records that in 2018, Sports Development Foundation (SDF) grants were: Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) $47 million, 19% of total association disbursements; Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association (JAAA) $27.8 million, 11% of the total; and Jamaica Cricket Association $16.2 million which was 6% of total disbursements. Netball Jamaica was in fourth place receiving $14.3 million. Perhaps there were other grants during the year, but in 2018 and 2019, Horseracing, received $80 million through its regulatory body, the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC), putting it on top of the list of recipients of government money.

It could be proposed that such annual data with analysis would include linkages to labour and employment, level of education and qualifications achieved by industry participants, economic linkages to tourism, linkages to education, health and wellness, gender disaggregated data, age disaggregated data, infrastructure in place, and linkages to poverty eradication, crime and violence reduction and national security. The 2018 ESSJ shows the real value of sport combined in a grouping with recreational and other cultural activities. The entire group has moved less than 1% point in real value added between the decade 2008 to 2017.

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