DESPITE having a desire to bring more Reggae Boyz games to western Jamaica, Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) General Secretary Dennis Chung says the capacity of the available facilities does not meet the current demand.

Montego Bay Sports Complex in Catherine Hall, St James is set to stage its first national senior men’s team game in almost two years when Jamaica host Trinidad and Tobago in their first international friendly on February 6. The two teams last met at the same ground in 2023 in two international friendlies, under former Head Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson.

However, over the years, fans on the western side of the island haven’t been able to see marquee matchups in their neck of the woods as Concacaf World Cup Qualifiers and Concacaf Nations League games have been held at the National Stadium in St Andrew.

Chung says the overwhelming demand from fans wanting to see the Jamaican men’s team makes it difficult to leave the Corporate Area.

“One of the reasons we don’t have more games in like Montego Bay of the Reggae Boyz is because you see the demand we had at the stadium — we had over 21,000 at the last game [versus United States in November 2024]. We don’t have anywhere in Montego Bay that can hold 21,000 people,” he said.

“The capacity in Montego Bay for the stands we’re using [for the Trinidad game] is about 3500. At the Tony Spaulding Complex, it’s about 6000 people. We know that a lot more people, even in Jamaica, want to see that.”

Chung says he’s hoping that Montego Bay Multi Sports Development Limited, the organisation led by businessman and Montego Bay United Chairman Yoni Epstein, will make improvements in increasing seating at Montego Bay Sports Complex.

“Also in Montego Bay, a private sector entity is taking over that location at Catherine Hall. They have a limited capacity but I understand that there are plans to increase that,” he said.

Chung, though, says there needs to be an islandwide push to have increased capacities at stadiums.

“With what the Ministry of Sports is doing, and the parish municipality in Montego Bay, within another one to two years you [would] solve a lot of that capacity problem. [But] that is not sufficient for where we want football, and certainly what we’d want to see is clubs build out their own capacity,” said Chung.

“Infrastructure is not an issue that JFF can take up but, certainly, at our Captain Horace Burrell Centre there’s a lot of demand for it there — and we’re actually looking to put up stands there but it won’t be anything of great capacity. What we want to do is increase capacity incrementally across the island,” he added.

Following the first friendly in Montego Bay, the Boyz are to play the second game on February 9 at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex in Arnett Gardens, St Andrew. Both games are outside the FIFA window.

The next competitive match for the Jamaica men’s senior team is against St Vincent and the Grenadines in March for the Concacaf Gold Cup qualifiers. It is scheduled to be hosted at the National Stadium