IT APPEARS that the top brass of the front-line football clubs which form the Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA) will have a serious task to earn their own sponsorship for the next football season.
Clear evidence of this has been manifested in the current scenario where the league is currently without a title sponsor after Cash Plus Limited was listed as broke and the PLCA subsequently severed links with the investment scheme paying only $24.1 million of the $61.5 million commitment it announced at the start of the season.
Real crisis
In its bid to cover all its basic expenses, the PLCA is seeking additional funding. Traditional things which are deemed to be of lesser importance, such as prize money and the awards ceremony, have been taken out of play, unless enough money is found for that purpose somewhere down the line.
It is a real crisis, the very sort that led to the creation of the PLCA with clubs facing a seasonal budget of nearly $20 million - much of which deals with salaries of its senior and Under-21 players and coaching and management staff who are involved in the two national leagues.
And, without touching other major expenses, there are the feeder teams also that play in the parish competitions.
In total, the association, in its first year of operation, sought $250 million to cover its seasonal budget. For every newborn, there's bound to be teething pains and the PLCA has definitely got them.
As a matter of fact, the pains had already been there, only that the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), the island's ruling body for the sport, usually had the responsibility of seeking major sponsorship for the competition.
The clubs took their own problems in hand to deal with major sponsorship matters, even in the face of criticism, naturally, for dropping a sure-footed title sponsor, Wray and Nephew.
Dropping sponsor
A long-time football sponsor from the days when the Kingston and St. Andrew Football Major League was basically the king of competitions, Wray and Nephew initially associated itself with the Premier League under a $100 million, five-year deal, and had already signed off on increasing sponsorship for an additional half decade at $120 million.
The clubs' association, which includes a central figure in the Wray and Nephew deal, its company's promotions and communications manager, Andrew Price, who is also the technical director of big club, Boys' Town, needed more and was granted a leeway by the distilling company.
It could not have been an easy decision for Wray and Nephew which, given the type of money it was spending, was not expected to tag along as just another sponsor. There's really no strong tradition, no guarantees for cash investment schemes, so regardless of the value, the switch to Cash Plus continues to promote arguments.
Yet, in spite of what has transpired with the Cash Plus flop, the PLCA has somewhat soothed its own pains as reflected by comparative figures from this and last season.
In total, the PLCA garnered $50 million in sponsorship from Cash Plus, Coca-Cola, Digicel and TVJ this season. Last season the JFF got $22 million from Wray and Nephew, of which the 12 clubs got $7 million to share.
Of the $50 million it rreceived this season, $7.5 million went for referees' fees, $3.3 million in PLCA office administrative expenses and $1.3 million covered insurance for the players. A total of $37 million was shared among the 12 clubs.
Filling the void
The PLCA is currently seeking additional money to cover its essential expenses for the competition. Hopefully, it gets that and more to put up a portion, if not all, the $2 million prize money and other funds for incentives to reward excellence such as Most Valuable Player, Top Senior and Junior Player, Top Goalscorer, Top Referee, Coach of the Year, Manager of the Year, Most Disciplined Team, etc.
When that is finished, there's some serious work for the PLCA ahead of next season with Cash Plus' three-year, $150 million done, no title sponsor and a great void to fill in getting anywhere remotely close to the $250 million it hopes to attain.
