President of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA), Christopher Samuda, has once again called on sporting bodies to adopt a commercial model in delivering regional and international games.

Samuda was speaking at a recent press conference to launch the hosting of the Pan American LacrosseAssociations’ Sixes Regional tournament by the Jamaica Lacrosse Association (JLA).

The JOA president shared that in order to ensure viability and sustainability, Jamaica needs to be transformed into a sporting hub.

“We, at the JOA, call it a ‘Sport for All Commercial Model’ that joins up competitive and recreational sport with sport tourism, sport branding, sport merchandising, sport entertainment, culture sport and sport economics in a network of hard currency in respect of which benefits accrue and are measurable,” Samuda said.

According to a release on Tuesday, in 2022, the JOA and JLA formed a partnership in bidding to host the championships, the success of which President Samuda attributed to the fact that we “went beyond a mere proposal in winning knowing that sport has evolved beyond a business activity to a commercial enterprise that honours the rules of the game and that engenders passion and loyalty for the game while establishing capital, currency and sustainability for the game and our member association.”

In emphasising the value of the partnership between the apex local governing body and its member association, President Samuda said that “together we are pursuing an eco-experience in sport, the ecology of sport that tailors the hosting and playing of the game to suit the integrity and the commercial and cultural economies of sport.”

Expressing confidence in “partnerships for value” and the imperative of the commercial model as the present and future pathway, President Samuda stated: “that must be the way to go in sport in trademarking viability and building sustainability.”

“That is the road on which the Jamaica Olympic Association is exhorting our member associations and all stakeholders to travel if we are serious in successfully establishing a construct that marries sport with tourism, entertainment, health and wellness and culture in a multi-faceted relationship in which all parties mutually see tangible economic benefits, brand commercialisation and infrastructure development,” he continued.