Caribbean Cup Football Brings Big Bucks To Mobay

Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Glendon Harris, says the Montego Bay economy benefited significantly from the staging of the 2014 Caribbean Cup football tournament, which ended Tuesday night (November 18).

In an interview with JIS News, Councillor Harris, who chaired the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the competition, said the direct financial injection into the economy of the city was approximately US$600,000, but a number of sectors secured financial benefits such as hotel and ground transportation.

“I can tell you that the direct injection into Montego Bay for this competition was roughly US$600,000…not to mention the circulation of funds for the vendors and for other accommodations…the taxi and transport operations…all in all, I believe that a billion dollars was injected into the economy of Montego Bay,” he noted.

Mayor Harris argued that the success of the Caribbean Cup has placed the city of Montego Bay in good stead to be seriously marketed on the international scene as a sports tourism destination.

“I got a little flogging when we hosted the Under 17 Women’s football final recently, but that was an investment in making Montego Bay and the Catherine Hall Sports Complex a place of choice for these games…really making Montego Bay the sporting capital of the Caribbean,” he said.

Mayor Harris said members of the LOC will be reviewing all aspects of the preparatory works that went into the staging of the tournament with particular emphasis being placed on marketing, promotions and widening representation on the committee to include more people from all the relevant sectors.

He said, “The reality is that we need more local persons on board. We need more sponsorship. Persons ought to be coming on board offering hotel rooms…offering to purchase blocks of tickets. We expect that corporate Montego Bay and corporate Jamaica in general would be on board purchasing tickets and allowing persons to come. We have a part to play and almost everybody benefits from the injection into Montego Bay…We need to spend money in order for us to make more money.”

The 2014 Caribbean Cup football tournament ended at the Catherine Hall Sports Complex with Jamaica defeating rivals Trinidad and Tobago 4-3 on penalties.

Jamaican players Rudolph Austin and Andre Blake picked up awards for being the Most Valuable Player and Best Goalkeeper, respectively, while Darren Mattocks shared the Golden Boot award for being the joint-leading goalscorer.