‘Caribbean Pro League needs a lot of cash’ - Carvel Stewart: Airline and accommodation costs difficult to acquire
Published:Wednesday | May 13, 2020 | 12:06 AMDaniel Wheeler/ Gleaner Writer
Premier League Clubs Association vice-chairman, Carvel Stewart, believes that financial backing will be the major obstacle to the creation and sustainability of a regional professional football league.
Concacaf recently announced the formation of a Caribbean Professional League Working Group tasked to provide a framework enabling the start of a league in the region. The initiative, which has been supported by football’s world governing body FIFA, is the latest move that Concacaf has made to get the competition off the ground. Jamaica Olympic Association president, Christopher Samuda, is among those selected to the group.
Stewart participated in previous studies to assess the feasibility of such a league and believes that regional and international bodies must step in to fill that financial void for the league to be viable.
“We had generated cost requirements in the past based on optional structures for it and so on. It was always very expensive because the airline and accommodation costs are very difficult to acquire. So those are the main areas to look at,” Stewart told The Gleaner. “The question now is: would Concacaf be prepared to find those monies to enable the league?”
Stewart said that in previous instances, they were hoping to gain the assistance of FIFA sponsors which would have been able to make the competition viable.
PIGGYBACKING ON FIFA SPONSORS
“When I was involved in looking at it with others in the Caribbean, we were looking to see whether or not some piggybacking on FIFA sponsors [such as] Coca-Cola or adidas might be possible. Those people have to see that there is a market for them to add to their income stream,” he said. “And if they don’t think that that’s the case, they are not going to come on board. It (Caribbean Pro League) will need significant income because there will be tremendous cost.”
In 2014, a task force under then Concacaf president, Jeffery Webb, was created to achieve the goal but ultimately did not deliver. Current Concacaf president, Victor Montagliani, has stated that now was an opportune time for a “comprehensive study” in order to finally achieve concrete results. Stewart said that the competition could mirror Europe’s Champions League but whatever format is decided upon, support from the regional and global bodies could be the way in addressing the funding gap.
“Whether it is that format or another one, they would have to work that out, but again, the money is going to determine it, so if the money is going to be supported by, say a Concacaf or by extension a FIFA, I suspect that it is the only way,” he said. “To get it going [the league] would be very good and useful [but] it would need a lot of support.”