SPORTS PUSH

Government is looking to introduce several initiatives to drive interest in various sporting events, including a lucrative football tournament in which the winner will earn $100 000.

This was revealed by Prime Minister Mia Mottley this evening in the 2024/2025 Budgetary Proposals and Financial Statement, where she also disclosed plans were in the works to hold Formula E races at Bushy Park, and to launch a T20 cricket tournament.

The Prime Minister’s Challenge would be the most lucrative football competition held on the island, rivaling the LIME Pelican Challenge which ran for three years from 2011 to 2013, and also offered a $100 000 prize to the winner.

“We will discuss with the Barbados Football Association the introduction of a semi-professional football tournament, featuring 20 teams islandwide from across the parishes with a grand prize of $100,000, and other prizes below that, offering thrilling competition and financial support for our soccer players,” Mottley disclosed.
Pointing to the last two major football competitions, the Lime Pelican and David Thompson Memorial Football Classic tournaments, she said this new event was intended to culminate in November, paying every player from the very first match.

Mottley noted that the pay in the opening games would start at $100 per player and increase as the tournament progressed.
In addition, Mottley also spoke on the island’s intention to once again become a power hub in motor racing, pointing out that it would be setting its sights on hosting Formula E races.
“The Government of Barbados through the National Sports Council has entered a partnership with the Barbados Motoring Federation and Bushy Park to provide $180 000 a year, to make available a significant number of days almost every weekend to all of the motoring and motorcycle clubs in this country in order to have Barbados as a bustling hub for motoring events and to allow us to attract people here from across the region for various rallies

“…We signal the intention to work with all interested parties to make Barbados a hub for hosting Formula E racing, consistent with our commitment to the blue and green economy, the electric cars. I am told that the extension for this track will also accommodate the quarter-mile races that are now held on our roads, but will be much more safely held in an environment that is off-road like that,” the Prime Minister stressed.
Mottley also touched on plans to establish a T20 Block Cricket initiative, to create coaching certification for road tennis and lay two more athletic tracks in the north and south of the island to expand opportunities for athletes.
As backing for these, she announced the introduction of a 50 per cent tax credit for the provision and development of entertainment and sports venues from April 1, 2024.
“This measure is designed to boost investment in sports venues, ensuring world-class facilities for our athletes and affirming Barbados as a premier sports tourism destination and as a destination for the development of sports for our people,” Mottley added.

jeniquebelgrave@barbadostoday.bb