'Let the games begin'

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, in welcoming spectators back to the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championships (Champs), pointed to the significant economic benefit from what is the premier secondary school athletic championship in the world.

Minister Grange said, “Because of the long and distinguished legacy of Champs, there is a consistent increase in visitor arrival to Jamaica during the period leading up to the mega event. While the support from high school alumni and Jamaicans in the diaspora who invest in and return to Jamaica for Champs is unquantified at this time, there is a marked stimulation in the economy, which can be attributed to Champs.

“The city of Kingston, for example, benefits from an increase in occupancy of hotels, guesthouses, AIR BnB-type facilities and private homes. This is also reflected in the local retail and transportation sectors. Through Champs, there is both a direct and indirect co-relation to educational and employment opportunities.

“We also see a lot of merchandising from the schools; there’s the broadcasting revenue, there are stage, light and sound, there are opportunities for the small peanut vendors as well.

“There are several industries and families that benefit from the staging of Champs.

“So Chamos is not only great for sports development, but it generates significant economic activity as well. I am happy that GraceKennedy continues to support Champs by being the lead sponsor in this mega schoolboy and schoolgirl event. I commend also all the others for their support.

“The fallout caused by Covid-19 was huge. Loss reported by ISSA since the pandemic is approximately $320,000,000.00 in gross income and $120,000,000.00 in net income over the two-year period. Even though the championship was cancelled in 2020, ISSA reported losses of $14,500,000.00 for expenses incurred prior to the cancellation.

“The net returns from Champs are used to cover the operational cost of ISSA which gets no funding outside of their sponsorship arrangements and gate receipts from competitions held. The impact of the cancellation of Champs in 2020 also meant that schools lost out on funding usually paid out to them by ISSA from the gross income generated from Champs. Unsponsored competitions for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons were also adversely affected.

“ISSA estimates that the financial fallout from individual schools, vendors and sponsors directly related to expenditure related to Champs preparation in 2020 was approximately J$500,000.00.

“The prospect for scholarship opportunities was also stymied during the last two years since scouts particularly from United States based colleges and universities attend Champs to look for outstanding talent.

“Champs is also a family event and many visitors, Jamaican and non-Jamaican, are known to book vacations either before or after the five-day festival. With the cancellation of the 2020 staging and the staging in 2021 without spectators, Jamaica would not have benefitted from visitors who would have extended their stay to vacation in other parts of the island. The sponsors would also have been negatively impacted as the lack of exposure of their brands most likely translated into reduced profits.

“In 2021, even though Champs was staged, it was done behind closed doors. This resulted in losses of $70,000,000.00. For this year, ISSA projects that their earnings will return to pre-COVID figures despite the significant increase in inflation.

“While there were losses in 2021 because of a spectator-less staging of the championship, there was an increase in the pay-per-view modality. This provided the opportunity for ISSA and its sponsors to engage untapped markets. The hybrid staging of the 2022 championship and the focus on online sales now promotes a more efficient way to market and host major sport events.

“The Government of Jamaica supported the staging of Champs in 2021 and is doing so again in 2022 in a number of ways including, consultations and facilitation with the planning for hosting of events under the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA) to include assistance to develop protocols which received approval both in 2021 and 2022.

“In 2022, financial assistance came through the Sport Development Foundation (SDF) to support regional and developmental meets which received little or no corporate sponsorship. This was done through $10M to the Jamaica Administrative Athletics Association (JAAA) for staging of development meets (seniors and juniors included); $2.6M towards Champs qualifying meets (Corporate Area, Western, Eastern and Central) and $500,000.00 towards Velocity Fest which includes seniors and high school athletes.

“Facilitation of the hosting of Champs and other development meets at government owned facilities (National Stadium and GC Foster College) at discounted rates.

“Welcome back Champs; welcome back spectators. Let the Games begin.”