Professional Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL) Chairman Mr Chris Williams and his team are seized with the type of big thinking that we have been advocating in this space for years.

Last week, before Sunday’s final of the Wray & Nephew Jamaica Premier League (JPL), Mr Williams told this newspaper that the title sponsor had bought into the dream to make the JPL play-offs one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

Mr Williams cites, as an example to follow, the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 cricket which, we are told, had record viewership of 510 million worldwide for the first 51 matches this year.

“Every year we want people flying into Jamaica, checking into hotels, just like people are doing to the IPL, Copa [America], the [NFL] Super Bowl, [FIFA] World Cup or the Olympics. We want people flying into Jamaica to watch the Jamaica Premier League and the Super Finals and making it a destination event,” Mr Williams said.

He noted that interest in the league, both inside game venues and on traditional and digital platforms, has been growing since 2020, resulting in more than 120,000 turnstile entries over the just-ended season. Additionally, Mr Williams said, the pre-season ‘El Clasico’ match between Waterhouse and Arnett Gardens at Waterhouse was sold out. “So, the consistency of support is growing,” he said.

We are told that Sunday’s final and third place games pulled 25,000 spectators to the National Stadium in St Andrew. That is a huge achievement. We have rarely seen a football crowd that size in Jamaica since the qualifying campaign for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

The PFJL deserves rich praise for that achievement because organising, promoting and managing sporting competitions is extremely challenging and comes with many moving parts.

Actually, we really didn’t expect anything less from PFJL, because at the helm of the organisation is one of this country’s most adroit and respected businessmen. Indeed, we were very happy when Mr Williams got involved in top-level football administration, because the sport needs people who are adept at business and who understand that, if properly run, it will provide huge financial benefits to players, clubs, coaches, support staff, game officials, a host of other stakeholders, and the country. The efforts of CEO Mr Owen Hill and those in the trenches have also not gone unnoticed.

Anyone who doubts football’s potential as a money spinner need just look at Deloitte’s annual review for 2023, which shows that the European football market grew seven per cent to €29.5 billion over the 2021/22 season, due to record match-day and commercial revenues.

Also, for the English Premier League, match-day and commercial revenues reached a record £5.5 billion in the 2021/22 season outpacing other top leagues in Europe.

Projections are that the global football market is poised to grow from US$4.19 billion in 2023 to US$5.65 billion by 2031.

Why shouldn’t Jamaica seek a piece of that pie?

For that to happen, much needs to be done. Crucially, playing surfaces, which are woefully inadequate, and related facilities need to be substantially improved. And all stakeholders need to treat football as business.

The largest and most successful enterprises in this world started out as a dream. Mr Williams and his team are on the right track.