WHEN THE National Stadium was built some 40 years ago, it was to serve sport, and up to recently, it did so.
The cost of using it today, however, is so high, there is a fear that before long, it will either be a 'white elephant' or will be used only by churches for conventions, by the private sector for things like trade shows, or by political parties for conferences.
Just recently, neither the Caribbean Table Tennis Championships nor the opening of the schoolboy football season was held there because the cost was too high.
The cost of using the stadium is now $750,000 plus light and power, and the cost of using the National Arena or the new indoor facility is $300,000 per day plus light and power - and light and power runs at some $18,000 per hour.
The problem facing sport is such that Contributing Editor Tony Becca recently spoke to manager Michael Hall about it in an effort to find out just what is what and what is the future of sport as far as using the facilities is concerned.
EXPENSIVE RENTAL
QUESTION: Michael, why is it so expensive to use the stadium?
Michael Hall: First let me tell this: Independent Park Limited is a company, it was formed by the government, and the mandate to the management is to manage, maintain, promote and market all the facilities of the complex with a view to the complex becoming self sustaining over a period of time so that there will be little if any requirement for direct subvention from the government. The hope is that it will generate enough revenue to maintain the complex and at some point in time, turn a profit as well.
Q: But the stadium was built to assist in the development of sport, and if it has to pay for itself, won't that put it beyond the reach of those who need it to train and to put on events?
MH: Yes. I think that is the crux of the whole problem. This is the national stadium and it has a lot of history attached to it both from a civic and a sporting point of view. The notion of creating a company to manage it, and to manage it in such a way that it is self sufficient and that it will be profitable will require a basic shift in the way that people think about how it should be used and the purpose it should serve. There needs to be a marriage between the needs of the state and the needs of the national associations that, by and large, are all volunteer organisations.
Q: Just what are the needs of the state as distinct from the needs of the national associations?
MH: The state needs to ensure that it does not have to pump money into it, and the associations need to be able to use it.
Q: So where do we go from there? At the current rates, the national associations simply cannot to use it.
MH: That is true. It may very well mean that the commercial aspect of it, the real commercial opportunities will have to come from outside the borders of Jamaica because, you are right, there are few, very few sporting associations for whom renting any of the facilities here at the stadium would be a good economic decision. In my view, only the JFF (Jamaica Football Federation) can afford it - and even then, only for a few matches.
Before I came here there was some furore with the table tennis association over the use of the new indoor facility, but at the same time you have to look at the marketability of the event and decide whether you want to have it in a facility where perhaps the spectators who come would be swallowed by the facility to the point where you hardly notice them in there.
Q: So what is the answer?
MH: It may be that we have to bring international events here so that we can get the sort of money that will allow us, possibly, to subside the use of the facility by local associations for local or regional competitions.
Q: Yes, that seems the way to go. But what happens if that does not work. Jamaica certainly won't be that lucky to get, each year, enough of the kind of events that will make that kind of money.
MH: We have to try. It is as simple as that. The problem, however, is more than that. We have to look at what are the real and true costs to keep this place open and to keep it in a condition that will attract users, from overseas, and spectators as well.
My estimate, and I am only in the job now for six or seven weeks, is that to properly maintain this complex, the facilities, and we are now talking about the basic necessities - security, electricity, water and general maintenance, sanitation - you are talking about a figure in the region of some four million dollars per month.
The showpiece facility in the complex is the stadium, that is what we have to sell overseas, if we have to sell it overseas we have to fix it up, and although it is unfortunate, because it is a sport stadium and was built for sport, in my opinion, the management, certainly for a while, is going to be forced to maximise revenue from the other two facilities - the arena and the other indoor facility - in an attempt to try and develop a profile for the stadium that will allow us to bring in as many overseas big events as possible.
HURTING SPORT
Q: But how are you going to maximise revenue from them without hurting sport?
MH: I don't know, but we have bookings for the indoor facilities.
Q: Yes, but bookings by whom?
MH: By and large, mostly, from churches, from trade organisations.
Q: Yes, but the stadium was built for sport, and although there is a need to earn revenue, although, in a small country like this, other organisations will have to use it, there should be a way to ensure that sport can also use it.
MH: Tony, there are a lot problems facing the company. In my view, one of them is the fact that the company was not capitalised when it was formed. A company was formed, there was a mission, and the ship sort of set sail without enough water and food. I think the company need capital injection, substantial capital injection that will allow us to satisfy, for example, what is a growing list of creditors. I tell you something: just to keep the stadium going, we are indebted to Jamaica Public Service, we owe insurance premiums, there is the chemicals that are needed to maintain the pool, the general appearance of the complex needs to be improved, and I believe that without that injection of capital, the company is going to continue to flounder.
Q: And sport will flounder with it?
MH: I agree. Greater emphasis must be placed on making it available to sports.
But again I come back to where I believe we have to go. The stadium needs to establish itself as a player in the international arena. We need promotional material, things like brochures and a web site, to advertise the complex overseas - and all of this takes money that we simply do not have.
In truth and in fact, we are only surviving from day to day. We need a push start otherwise it is going to be a difficult road to travel. Whether the company from the state or a private investor is something else.
Q: Where do you believe that money should come from?
MH: To be honest, I don't know. I have been asked to develop a business plan for the company that I will present in the middle of October. I will present to the Board different financial options, and I suppose, given the present ownership of the complex, which is owned by the government of Jamaica, I suppose a decision on the type of financing will have to be taken at the highest level.
It could be the private sector investing in the company - lump sum returns, or equity returns, or it could be the government financing it alone.
FINANCING
Q: How is it being financed now?
MH: We are now existing on cash flow - such as that it is, as well as intermittent subventions from the government through the Ministry of Sport as the need arises or when things become critical. It is a system where applications are made and we receive some level of funding.
Q: So it is really a hand-to-mouth existence?
MH: You can say that. The truth is that a facility like this in the developed world is attached to a league, to a team, and branding and other things provide the money. Unfortunately, we do not have that situation here. On top of that, the stadium was built by the government for the people, and it would be difficult to get into naming rights - even if it was possible.
It would be difficult for the government to accept that the stadium would be no longer the national stadium but a private entity. The problem is how to deal with the economic and social aspects of running the stadium.
Q: Yes, that is really the problem, and may be the government should really do something about it. If the stadium was built for sport, for the development of sport, sport should be able to use it, and since it was built by the government for the people, may be the government should simply decide that they have to subside the use of it by sport associations.
Instead of having one price for all, may be there should be two costs - one for sport and one for other organisations like churches, the private sector and political parties.
MH: That's not for me to decide.
- Tony Becca
