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Professional Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL) chairman, Christopher Williams, says it would lead to a ‘financial disaster’ if the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) continued trying to host spectators, after their initial effort at Drax Hall failed miserably last weekend.
The PFJL recently received government approval to have spectators at JPL matches for the first time since football resumed last June. However, Williams said a faulty ticketing system, cost of renting venues and stringent COVID-19 measures made hosting spectators unsustainable.
As a result, instead of Sabina Park this weekend, games will return to the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence and will only cater for a television audience.
Williams said they will be writing to the Government with the hope that the PFJL will be allowed to validate the vaccination status of fans at the gate to make spectator access much easier, and to get more community football venues approved in order to lower cost.
“We will be going back to the Captain Horace Burrell Centre and we need to go back to the drawing board to see how we can find the balance between the protocols and the approved venues,” Williams told The Gleaner.
“The protocols are significantly constraining and my board would not allow itself to be exposed to any financial losses.
“The existing venues that have been approved along with a ticketing system, the vaccination need and the few numbers in the stands, is a recipe for financial disaster and we cannot take that on.
“So to keep our cost down we will be going back to the Captain Horace Burrell Centre with television only and we will continue to lobby the Government for some adjustments, either to the protocols, the venues or the ticketing system but something has to be adjusted,” he insisted.
DETERRING FANS
The online ticketing, which he argues unfairly charges 10 per cent of game receipts, is too difficult to manoeuvre and turns away many potential fans.
At last weekend’s round of games at Drax Hall many fans turned up with vaccination cards but were unable to gain access to the venues and he believes it would be much easier if they were given the permit to validate the fans.
“The people are not going online to go through those many steps, and for those who did the system broke down.
“So it is too much to ask these consumers. Remember that we need their money and it seems as if they are begging us to come to the matches.
“They have to give us an easier system where they trust us as promoters to validate the vaccination.
“Why should we have to go through so much red tape. Trust us. We are decent, upstanding citizens. We can validate the vaccination and let in the people and collect their money. Just allow us to validate,” he reasoned.
He also believes that returning the matches to the communities will be far cheaper than the current approved venues, which include the National Stadium, Sabina Park and Drax Hall.
“They have to give us cheaper venues. We are locked into the most expensive venues, so we are just working for the venues.
“Give us a wider choice of venues because most of these (approved) venues are booked and we can’t get them and the cost is ridiculous.
“Open up Arnett Gardens, Waterhouse, Humble Lion and those are the people you want to get vaccinated anyway, so why don’t you put the matches there and entice the people to get vaccinated,” he said.
He added they he would be dispatching a letter with his requests. He also wants the 10 per cent fee attached to the faulty ticketing system removed.
“When we lose money, we alone suffer the loss. The 10 per cent fee to the ticketing system is unjust. So we need to change it or get rid of this ticketing system,” he stated.
livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com
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