$.4 million loss by TTFF after World Cup qualifiers.
By: Kwame Williams.
After the two 2006 World Cup qualifying matches played in Trinidad this year, the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation’s unaudited statements of income and expenditure show that the Federation suffered a huge financial loss.
The deficit, estimated at $436,452, came after the second home match, in which T&T drew goalless with Costa Rica at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on March 30.
The TTFF spent $1,408,395, with the lion’s share of that money going towards match fees for the local players ($220,465), advertising ($131,992) and travel ($493,461).
Mediocre ticket sales, which generated $503,652 and $146,080 in sponsorship rounded off the revenue to a disappointing $649,732. This resulted in a deficit of $758,663 for that match alone.
The TTFF fared a lot better with the first match, played against the USA at the Queen’s Park Oval on Ash Wednesday (February 9), taking in a whopping $1,454,609.
Ticket sales for that match hauled in $1,384,609 of the total income, while $70,000 for media rights made up the balance.
Total expenditure amounted to $1,132,398, which was considerably less than that for the Costa Rica match, despite of the fact that the TTFF expended more money for entertainment on Ash Wednesday ($26,087) than on March 30 ($19,500).
Travel ($272,825) and advertising ($165,023) also formed a big portion of the expenses for the USA match and were surpassed only by the $312,925 in accommodation expenses.
Match fees for the USA match amounted to $148,259—$72,206 less than that for the qualifier against Costa Rica—with $64,259 being paid to the foreign-based T&T players and $84,000 going to the home-based.
The TTFF was given a much-needed boost last week when the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs granted the Federation $1,684,921. This is to be put towards continuation of the national team’s World Cup qualifying campaign.
Poll