JFF targets $1b budget for World Cup
By Howard Walker Observer Writer walkerh@jamaicaobserver.com
Friday, November 23, 2007
A $1 billion budget is expected by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to sustain the national programme over the next few years, culminating with the expected qualification of the Reggae Boyz for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Leighton McKnight, chairman of the Finance Committee, made the announcement during a press briefing to outline the current financial position of the JFF at their headquarters in New Kingston yesterday.
JFF Finance Committee chairman Leighton McKnight (centre) gives a breakdown of the federation's financial status at a press briefing yesterday. Looking on are president Captain Horace Burrell (right) and treasurer Gary Sinclair. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)
Said McKnight: "In the last few years our operating expenses have never been under $300m and to qualify for the World Cup will take substantially more than that.
"In reality, we're looking close to a billion-dollar budget. It's all good and well to say we're talented, but without the proper preparation, the team is not going to make it."
He added: "There are a lot of financial challenges and we're going to need everybody's help. South Africa is very dear to Jamaica. I'm not sure everybody is aware that we were the first country to apply sanctions against apartheid and they really think a lot of Jamaica and want to see us in South Africa.
"It will cost quite a bit of money.
We have to be innovative. It can't be done by the JFF alone, or the government alone; all the stakeholders will have to come on board. We're putting together a detailed budget for the entire programme.
"We're not perfect; we're going to need ideas, suggestions, financial help. It's going to take quite a bit of money and I don't want to frighten you with the numbers. The Canadian budget is just under a billion Jamaican dollars," revealed McKnight, who is also a partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
The JFF was not in a position to reveal too much on the Guatemala game played Wednesday night because they are still collating information on ticket sales and bills.
But they revealed that they made a preliminary profit of over $300,000 from the El Salvador game and have paid off the former technical director Velibor "Bora" Milutinovic's salary of $29 million.
The preliminary returns for the El Salvador match showed that the JFF raked in $11.3m in revenue with $7.7m being ticket sales and Digicel's sponsorship of US$24,000 per game, while expenses were $10.9m.
"There is a paradigm shift in staging the matches because the players' expenses for El Salvador and Jamaica is a little over $8m," said McKnight.
The breakdown is as follows:
The airfare for the El Salvador team, US$27,000 (J$1.9m).
The match fee, US$15,000 (J$1.065m); hotel fee, US$11,000 (J$781,000).
The El Salvador team alone would cost just under J$4m.
For the Jamaican team:
Incentive for players, US$23,700 (J$1.6m); hotel, US$21,000 (J$1.5m)
Airfare of just over $2m to bring down the players from all over Europe.
Stadium cost, $872,000; sound, $400,000; workers, $400,000.
As for salaries owing to Milutinovic, president Captain Horace Burrell said he was happy to announce that the JFF have fulfilled their financial obligation to him.
Said Burrell: "When the board decided to terminate Bora's contract, we checked with the labour laws and based on legal advice, he was paid one month's salary.
"In addition, the JFF had a huge amount which he was not paid and having received this money from the government, we took care of all Mr Bora's outstanding payment. I'm happy to report that we have," he stressed.
According to JFF treasurer Gary Sinclair, the $35m that the government handed over on Sunday has already been utilised.
"Most of that is already gone. We owed the former TD US$453,000 that translate to J$29.5m which has been wired to Mr Milutinovic. We then had to spend another US$12,500 on our women's teams for camp and travelling expenses," he said.
