By Nodley Wright, Freelance WriterTHE COUNTRY'S national Knockout football competition, the Federation Cup, will soon have a new name and a new sponsor.
Sponsored for over a decade by Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS), this year's competition will now be taken over by local brewery Red Stripe, according to a source.
"Red Stripe will take over sponsorship of the competition very soon and it will be known as the Red Stripe Champions Cup," the source said of the competition, which will kick off on Wednesday, February 23.
Details of the marriage between Red Stripe and the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) are expected to be announced soon.
CONFIRMATIONS
Checks with a number of clubs to confirm if such a disclosure was made, proved true. According to these clubs, they were informed of the developments by the JFF two weeks ago and again a week ago.
According to another source, longstanding sponsors Jamaica National decided to opt out of sponsoring the Knockout competition because it was growing beyond their budget.
"The JFF wanted an expanded competition and when the proposal was put to Jamaica National they did not think it could fit within their budget," the source said. The fact that JN has decided to end their relationship with the Knockout competition, the source continued, does not mean that they have ended their relationship with football or with the JFF.
What Jamaica National will now do, the source said, is probably sponsor another competition within their budget.
Over the years Jamaica National's sponsorship of the competition has grown from a low of $1m to a high of $2.3m for last year's competition. Red Stripe's sponsorship of the competition is expected to be substantially more than JN's $2.3 and could as much as triple the figure.
The Red Stripe Champions Cup is excepted to be more closely modelled off one of the world's oldest Knock Out competitions, the English FA cup. It will be incentive-laden and will see each participating team earning from the competition.
"All teams will be provided with gear and the position of the team in the competition does not matter, each team will get appearance money," said a member of the management structure of one of the Premier League teams.
"There will also be travelling subsidies for teams playing away which is something new," the person added.
Other benefits are expected to come on stream and these will be outlined soon by the new sponsors.
