Chris Dehring

The incredible success of our athletes in Beijing, led of course by Usain "Lightning" Bolt, should serve to remind everyone of what has been mooted for many years; that whether by chance or intent, Jamaica consistently produces world-class athletes. This has been true from the days of Lindy Delapenha and the footballers of Jamaican decent who continue to ply their professional trade in the English Premier League (EPL), to Patrick Ewing and other Jamaican-linked basketball players in the NBA; and even to Devon White - a former star of Major League's Toronto Blue Jays.

This phenomenon and developments in digital technology strongly support the potential for a viable, domestic sports industry.

I start from the premise that a "formal" sports industry does not now exist, even though many of our athletes (track, football and cricket, particularly) currently earn a decent living from their sport. Indeed, our domestic football league could even be considered "semi-professional", with players paid to play and local clubs earning significant fees for the transfer of players to overseas clubs in recent years. The reality however, is that successive Governments have always attached "sports" to a ministerial portfolio which appears to recognise its importance solely as a social objective. This, while ignoring its importance and potential as a commercial and economic one. While the importance of sports to the social fabric and national psyche cannot be underestimated and should rightfully be developed, for Jamaica, sports is also a natural and intrinsic asset; one that can be harnessed productively to create jobs, grow GDP and enhance Jamaica's business image abroad.
We miss that point whenever cabinets are appointed and sports is not assigned to the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce where it might more appropriately belong.

Our "Natural" Assets

Several years ago, the then Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson led a delegation of Jamaican bankers and entrepreneurs on a mission to New York to present Jamaican projects which needed financing. To the room of Wall Street financiers, the prime minister's opening remarks included a reminder of the "assets" for which Jamaica was internationally renowned: our beaches; our music; and our athletic prowess.

However, of the 50-odd business ventures being presented for financing, the tourism industry heavily dominated - an industry spawned from our outstanding beaches. While projects reflecting industries grown from the seeds of our two other "natural" assets - music and sports, were glaringly absent. The reality was that unlike tourism, our government had not yet fertilised, and or private sector had not yet begun to harvest in either of these domestic industries. Neither recognised, or perhaps understood the monetary potential from these industries in the coming digital age.

It is speculated that Jamaica retains less than one per cent of a US$500-million global reggae music market - a result of our tardiness in recognising the vast potential of this cultural asset. But it's not too late for sports. Let's ensure that the financial opportunities that abound for our Jamaican sports brand - a very powerful brand - are not left for others to exploit and reap the benefits.

Sports in the digital age

In the digital world, content is king; sports is one of the reigning "kings" of content; and brand Jamaica if not king, is surely at least a "crown prince" in the world of sports. Content is the programming which broadcasters, websites and mobile phone operators need to have, to fill the many hours of airtime available - many needing 24 hours of programming (TV shows, news, sports events, etc) per day. Content is what these platforms need to sell to their customers. The digital age and the explosion of broadcast platforms (TV channels, etc.) it has fostered, has created unprecedented opportunities for the monetisation of Jamaican sports and sports properties through the sale of our "content".

But whenever we hear talk of the commercial opportunities for Jamaican sports, the automatic response from government is tout the pursuit of "sports tourism". No doubt this stems from our expertise and familiarity with tourism which makes it a natural response. After all, this is what we know, so this is what we can do. I fully agree that there are ready opportunities to exploit our brand in the growing sports tourism market. However, this is a mere "drop in the bucket" and does not recognise the significant "direct" commercial revenues of sports, if viewed in the context of the vast international business it is. In fact, developing sports tourism - an overlapping subsector of the Tourism industry, is a mandate that our Tourism Ministry should consistently have. But the bulk of the benefits of sports tourism - tourism arrivals and their expenditure, are actually tangential to a sports industry. It is the direct revenues derived from a sporting event or athlete (eg IP rights sales, ticketing, licensing and merchandising, etc.) that constitutes the "business" of sports and which requires focus in order to develop a Jamaican sports industry.

It is these income streams which have been catapulted by the digital age as individuals globally can be reached on commercial-driven platforms via televisions, the internet and mobile phones. Sports fans are highly "emotion-driven" - the perfect basis for extracting money from their pockets. Sports fans crave seeing their team play like an addictive drug. Just imagine if a conservative million people around the world, paying US$1.00 each, had tuned in on their mobile phones, to watch the men's 100-meter finals at the recent Jamaican national trials which featured the two fastest men who have ever walked (run)the planet. The revenues of that event would have been multiplied tenfold -a" billion-fold" had just China tuned in! I was asked at a very late stage (a few days before the event) to assist with contacting international broadcasters to ascertain interest in the race. Of course, by then it was far too late as broadcast schedules, particularly with international sports channels, are fixed months, moreoften years, in advance. It's not just a matter of getting a guy with a microphone and a camera to jump on a plane. Someone fell asleep at the wheel and another glorious opportunity was lost.

See Part 2 next week

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