Professional Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL) Chairman Chris Williams says Jamaica Premier League (JPL) clubs are closer to being financially viable, despite financial challenges.

Williams is set to leave the body in August after close to five years as chairman. In 2020, Williams, founder of Proven Financial Group, was brought on to lead the newly formed organisation to improve the commercialisation and marketing of the JPL, which had struggled for decades.

Since then, the JPL has received several multimillion-dollar sponsorships, including $200 million from former presenting sponsors, Digicel, and $60 million from existing title sponsors, Wray & Nephew. Earlier this month, they signed a $24-million deal with distribution company Chas E Ramson.

However, there were rumours during the 2024-25 JPL season that the PFJL was tens of millions of dollars in debt. Those rumours intensified after a referee strike in March over $8 million owed.

Williams denied the debt and expects to be financially stable by the end of the month.

“We have audited financials, you can look at it,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “In fact, once we settle all the payments for the play-offs, which we’re doing now in June, because we have the cash and so on, we will owe nobody, we’ll have no payables, zero. We’re owed $10 million and we will owe Proven $10 million, so once we collect that, we pay that off.”

The Observer understands that a major contention at the PFJL’s annual general meeting (AGM) in March was the lack of funding, with clubs enduring massive expenses, including players’ salaries and travel. In May, Molynes United Head Coach Jermaine Thomas told the Observer that the club was spending over $3 million a month on bills.

While admitting more can be done, Williams says the PFJL is working to overcome several hurdles to ease the burden on the clubs.

“There’s one thing that the company needs, and that’s why the company was formed: The company needs more revenue — that’s what football needs,” he said. “Football, like most sports, need cash, and we don’t have anybody to give us the cash, so we have to go and earn it. It’s not like we’re Saudi [Arabia], Qatar, or even the United States, where central government makes a huge allocation that can fund the whole programme so you don’t even need sponsors.”

“Very few countries in the world are in that position, not even in England. That’s why the game is so commercialised in Europe, because they have to earn in order to develop, in order to put in the infrastructure that’s needed. You have to pack up the stadium, you have to massive sponsorship, you have to get broadcast deals, and it has to be earned.”

Williams says the PFJL has done significantly well to improve the financial situation of the league, but says greater focus will be placed on key areas for clubs to be profitable.

“When I came in, there was a use of this word called ‘subvention’, and I’m like, ‘subvention’? That sounds like a government word,” he said. “I’m saying, we have to make our own money. Nobody is giving us money to pay the players and all of that. The only way we can give money to the clubs to pay the players is massive sponsorship, massive gate [receipts], and massive broadcast.

“We’ve been constantly, year after year, upping the sponsorship, and once you prove that you’re getting the traction and the people watching it and they’re excited, sponsors come, because sponsors are seeing their products can get exposure. It takes time, and that’s what we’ve been doing so we keep increasing the sponsorship, we keep improving the gate management, improving the marketing, getting sales at the gate. When we get those moneys, we pay it over to the clubs; that’s it, that’s our job,” Williams added.

The new season of the JPL is set to kick off in September, with the new PFJL chairman set to be announced in August.

WILLIAMS…once we settle all the payments for the play-offs, which we’re doing now in June, because we have the cash and so on, we will owe nobody, we’ll have no payables, zero