Caribbean League promoters look at May start.
T&T Express Reports.
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) will benefit from a $20million kit sponsorship deal borne out of a partnership that will also promote the Caribbean League Football (CLF).
“All our national teams will be covered under this initiative, all our Pro League teams, our Women’s League, our referees, the TTFA and the Secondary Schools. Everyone will be under the same brand and soon more details will be announced about the sponsorship. but needless to say, the TTFA is very pleased with this deal,” said current TTFA president Raymond Tim Kee.
The three-month league is tentatively set to start at the end of May next year and expected to include yet-to-be named marquee players, foreign players hailing from Central America, South America and Europe and local domestic footballers. The initial investment in the private venture is for two to three years.
Organisers, including Canadian director of the CLF AJ Deber said that negotiations and talks are currently underway with the marquee players as they finalise arrangements for the League.
The league, which will feature doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday and a Caravan concept on Wednesday (moving around to different Caribbean countries), will be preceded by a three-month combine and trial period with players trying out for spots and to facilitate a USA-type draft observed in leagues like the NBA in the build-up to the start of the League.
There will be no franchises, said former T&T footballer and chairman and CEO of the CFL, Chris Anderson Joyeau.
Former director at Brazilian football club Santos, Andre Zonata, said the organisers will also place emphasis on “creating a sustainable youth development programme.”
Joyeau added that in the initial year, Trinidad and Tobago will be the main hub of the league but there are negotiations underway to lease two Dash 8 aircraft to facilitate the movement of at least four teams and accompanying technical officials and media all at one time.
He added that the organisers will be looking at avenues like merchandising, intellectual property and tv broadcast rights to generate revenue for investors.
“My confidence is based in the history of very talented players that have hailed from the Caribbean.....I am also an accountant and the numbers have been crunched and we know what we have to do to be in the black. We have done our due diligence financially and are ready to invest in a Caribbean league so that our players will no longer have to ply their trade in foreign countries. They will be able to work now for good wages here at home,” Joyeau explained.
