IN the same way that Mohamed Ali, by his skills and charisma, very significantly increased the market for boxing, Usain Bolt has created a worldwide awareness of the art of sprinting that has revolutionised the global market for Track and Field.

Mohamed Ali was named the top sportsmen of the last century and, no doubt, if Bolt maintains his image, he could be selected as the athlete of the 21st century! Many who disliked boxing watched Ali “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,” and many who are not avid follows of Track and Field make it a point to watch Bolt. The attendance at the Moscow World Championships peaked whenever Bolt made an appearance and the London Olympics 100m was sold out many months before the event and “scalper” tickets reached an all-time high.

“The Jordan Effect”, as discussed in Fortune Magazine, is the economic impact that Michael Jordan had on the business of basketball. Two quotations from the article follow

“So what’s the overall value of the Jordan Effect? As a refresher: Our equation includes Jordan “brand” products; ticket, merchandising, and television revenues; Nike stuff; Falk’s windfall; and Jordan’s value as an endorser. Add it all up, and what do you get? Just about US$10 billion — and still counting.”

“During his time in the NBA, Jordan has parlayed his breathtaking skills and overwhelming cross-cultural appeal into an industry, and he’s done it more effectively than any sportsman before him……. There’s no arguing that Jordan was in the right place at the right time. The entire sports industry enjoyed exponential growth on his watch.”

Similar to Ali and Jordan, Usain Bolt’s international image ranks among the highest ever and consequently the corporate demand for his endorsements will no doubt continue to bring significant and very well deserved benefits to him. Whatever he earned last year will likely double in the next year and, if he upholds his sprint dominance, it could double again before the Rio Olympics. His phenomenal speed endurance (so described by Michael Johnson) is not his primary asset. His magnetism is what has sealed his success.

The spontaneous performance of that Russian dance after successfully anchoring the 4×100 relay was an inspired tribute to the host nation. US TV replayed the last leg of that race and when Bolt sped away from Gatlin the newscaster said “eat….my….dust” and then showed Bolt doing the dance! This was a noteworthy breakthrough of significant proportions because the US has the admirable tendency of promoting its own. There are no encomiums too excessive for the young Jamaican superstar.

Although Bolt is head, shoulders and torso above the competition, there are other Jamaican greats. Four individuals from one nation in a 100m final was a first in the World Championships. Shelly Ann’s dominant performance for the women and Javon Francis’ 4×400 anchor leg firmly places us in the forefront of international sprinting. It is also believed by many experts that any threat to Bolt’s superiority will come from his own homeland! All of this is going on in a country that represents much less than one-tenth of one percent of the world’s population!

The question now is what has this done for Jamaica and what are the potential direct, indirect and catalytic benefits to the Jamaican economy from these performances. Usain Bolt, who has earned perhaps many times the annual income of any other Track and Field athlete, has demonstrated the viability of the sport and the increased market created by him will no doubt widen the potential for many others to make money from this sport.

The attendance figures support that the sprint events draw the biggest crowds. The lesson learned is that the time may be right for a major Track Meet dedicated to sprinting. Sprinting could be defined as any race where starting blocks are used and the race is run in lanes. This would define as sprints the 100m, 200m, 400m, the hurdles, the relays and, at a stretch, the long and triple jumps. For males and females this is 18 events and could be completed over four or five days.

The problem is how to fit this into the world calendar. Every year there is one big Track and Field meet – Olympics, World Games or Commonwealth games — and so there is no annual “free” slot for a big new event. There are a number of smaller events such as the Penn Relays and also IAAF World relays which will be staged in The Bahamas in 2014 and 2015. There are also the Diamond League events. Additional competitions with a bias towards sprinting would increase the athlete’s visibility and therefore enhance industry earnings. The time may be right to capitalise on the “Bolt wave” and increase benefits to the industry by hosting more sprint events. (Baseball teams each play 162 games in their regular season, basketball 82 and NFL 16.)

A state-of-the-art stadium complex in Jamaica could now be a commercial reality. This could be located on the proposed Highway to St Ann’s Bay (near to Ocho Rios) — within 70 minutes of Montego Bay and 45 minutes from the Kingston Metropolitan Area. If entrepreneurs acknowledge the marketability of such a facility this project would attract overseas investors. With such a facility in place, Jamaica could seriously contend for Diamond League events and, who knows, host an annual “Sprint Factory Meet”. The benefits to Jamaica in terms of employment and tourism would be our piece of the pie.

At this time the sports paraphernalia market (apparel, action figures, souvenir items etc.) for products endorsed by Bolt is in great demand worldwide. Whoever has this franchise should recognise that the value would increase if the goods were made in Jamaica (in a freezone environment) and marketed as “Genuine from The Big Man’s Own Country” and this would provide some much needed employment here.

In a small nation, it is amazing what one individual can do to impact GDP and perhaps, after Rio, we will see Usain Bolt make the change from athlete to entrepreneur and continue to assist the country that nurtured him.