Businesses urged to support athletes more

Minister of Sport Charles Griffith has called on the private sector to play a greater role in the development of sport in Barbados. 

Speaking recently during a forum under the theme, ‘Who Owns the Game? Unlocking the Business of Sport in Barbados’ at the Wildey Gymnasium in observance of World Intellectual Property Day, Griffith also chastised businesses for not giving local athletes the respect they deserved.

“Speaking subject to correction, but you cannot go into two business houses and see on the walls, pictures of any of our national athletes who are working within the organisation because they are not treated with that level of respect,” Griffith contended.

The minister also knocked some employers for not granting athletes permission to travel on national duty.

However, Griffith pointed out that there were laws in place to address the matter.

“This is something that the federations need to be cognisant of and then when they have issues, then the legal side should then kick in. 

“The truth is, government is pouring from a single cup and hence we are unable to finance all of our national teams, in terms of paying stipends to our players when they travel. It should not be a case of where you are going to represent your country and then you are thinking when I get back home, what will happen in relation to my job,” Griffith said.

Also speaking at the event was Director of Sport at the National Sports Council, (NSC) Neil Murrell, who said Barbados needed to improve its track record when it comes to the implementation of ideas if the island is to benefit more economically from the business of sport.

“This forum gave us an occasion to explore those ideas and the opportunity to move forward,” he said.

Delivering the feature address, Rivelino Simmons, head of Digital Shark TV, maintained that Barbados did not have a shortage of sporting culture, heritage or talent, but a lack of commercial structure.

“We treat it as something to be celebrated or funded but it can also be built, packaged, licensed, analysed and scaled. Sport has so many aspects and directions we can take it in.

“The real value often sits around the match, in how it is packaged, distributed and sold and how many markets can be reached, via rights and distribution,” Simmons said.

 He said associations and federations needed to better understand how to commercialise their products.  

Simmons explained that following the demise of Jamaica-based media company Sportsmax, there was a great opportunity for media rights for the region to be acquired.

(KH)