World to see T&T Pro League.
By: Ian Prescott (Express). The T&T Pro League is aiming to have those people not going to local football to still be aware of what is going on, with the launch of a Trinidad and Tobago Pro League interactive internet website and T&T Pro League magazine.
The launch was timed to coincide with tonight's First Citizens Cup Final, one of the biggest competitions on the local football calendar. Although running for some time at ttproleague.com, the league's website has now been upgraded and will officially open today.
The new-look website is able to show round-by-round video clips on T&T Pro League football on demand and also to provided specific information and clips on players to interested parties such as talent scouts and overseas clubs. The Pro League hopes to market its competitions similar to European leagues.
In launching the website, Larry Romany, chairman of the T&T Pro League, described the introduction of its magazine and new website as an exciting phase and a continuation of the Pro League's efforts to build the local professional football league.
"The mission is to create a sustainable business model that will allow the nation's footballers and coaches the opportunity to use their God-given talent to earn an honest and decent living in pursuit of their passion," he said.
Romany also noted that the original website has had significant improvement in the amount of people visiting. From a high of 3,000 monthly hits two years ago, the Pro League website now attracts 170,000 visits per month. With new interactive functions such as chat sites and features, even further growth is expected. The website function will be further re-inforced by a bi-monthly website which the Pro League also launched yesterday. The magazine will have an initial circulation of 20,000 copies and will be distributed free to the public via newspapers and TTPost.
Pro League launches web site, magazine to partner with Digicel.
T&T Guardian Reports.[/size]
The T&T Professional Football League marked another milestone in its development at the launch of its new web site and magazine at the Teak and Olive Room, Pier 1, Chaguaramas yesterday.
League chairman Larry romany came bearing gifts as he took members of the media and the league’s stakeholders through the new and improved
www.ttproleague.com and the Pro League magazine.
Chief Executive Officer of the T&T Pro League, Dexter Skeene in introducing Romany noted that there was a lot going on behind the scenes of the country’s top league and the chairman did not disappoint.
When he took the helm in May 2003 Romany summed up the league’s main focus in one word “development.” This was set to “include involving intellect from the fields of marketing, public relations, event promotion and management as well as the legal and financial sector.”
Romany also mentioned that in order for the Pro League to be a success it must develop into a successful business enterprise that was self-sustaining.
“In order for this to happen, the league needs to take on the face of a professionally-run business that takes care of first of all its customers, the public and finally the shareholders, the clubs,” Romany said at the launch of the 2003 season.
He reiterated this pledge yesterday.
“When I came into the Pro League the focus was on long-term sustainability,” he began.
“We set about creating a brand and within six months of operation we saw a 25 percent increase in brand recognition.
“What is saw as more important was what was going on with the web site which went from 2000 to over 100,000 hits per month.
“But we wanted something that was ours,” drawing attention to the fact that there was mass plagiarism of the site’s format and information.
“Without the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs and more recently the Sport Company of T&T the Pro League would not be and though, we have this support we see 2006 as a year for self-sustainability,” Romany said.
The site is a good place to start.
The new multi-lingual ttproleague.com is a marked improvement on its predecessor while maintaining the elements that made it popular within the local and international football community.
Added to the news and feature stories, results and fixtures already available, the site now features an online store in which fans of the game can get the replica shirts of their favourite teams as well as view video of league matches online or on television and offers more advertising opportunities for the corporate sector.
Today’s First Citizen’s Cup final will be the first match aired live via the web site following the league’s recent acquisition of video equipment.
The League is presently in talks with two United States-based football television stations to have matches from the T&T league aired on their stations.
This streaming video capability allows for magnified scouting openings for local players as any international team wishing to see a local players can request that the league’s audio visual team focus on that player.
The web site also marks partnerships with Digicel, the details of which will be divulged at a later date, and Sports and Games. The Digicel sponsorship deal was sealed at 5pm on Wednesday.
Romany noted that, while the web site could stand up to any of its international counterparts, there was also a need to look into the other spheres of media and to this end the Media Properties Department was established.
Headed by long time T&T Pro League contributor Joel Villafana the department is staffed by enough journalists and photographers to fully cover every aspect of the league including all matches on every match day.
Twenty-thousand copies of the magazine will be distributed bi-monthly through TTpost and the national newspapers.
In a nod to the passion of the people that run the league Skeene ended the official part of the launch by thanking his staff singling out Julia Baptiste and Nicole Fuentes for special mention.
