The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Just over six months after the completion of the 2013 BTC CARIFTA Games, the local organising committee (LOC) of the event produced their executive and financial summaries yesterday.

Hosted at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium, the premier junior athletics event in the region featured 448 athletes, in addition to 121 coaches and officials.

LOC chairman Basil Christie deemed the games a success for both the performances on the track and the “significant profit” made as hosts.

“The consensus of the participating countries was that the games were a success and the organising committee feels that way too,” he said. “Most notable is that the games were able to generate a significant profit and of course that is in large part due to the marketing team and public relations teams. What was overwhelming was the attendance. The ticket sales exceeded our expectations by over 100 per cent.”

Treasurer of the steering committee, Monty Braithwaite, said the CARIFTA Games was able to generate a “noteable” profit of more than $235,000 despite being over budget by $110,000. He noted that the total cost of the games was just over $1 million, due in large part to the National Sports Authority, who rented the National Stadium at a “reasonable cost” of $123,120 and the Bahamas Electricity Corporation, who absorbed the cost of electricity $(60,000) for the duration of the four-day meet.

The total cash receipts of the event was $343,000 over budget, vaulted by the aforementioned ticket sales which reached $369,569.

The main grandstand on the stadium’s western side was sold out during the last two days of competition.

Average daily ticket sales doubled when compared to the last time the Bahamas hosted the meet in 2002 and exceeded budget projections by 130 per cent.

Cash sales at the box office accounted for the bulk at $276,112, while online sales reached $61, 886, credit card sales reached $20,206 and wire transfers at $11,365.

Vendors, the sales team and volunteers were also major contributors to the total number in generated cash sales.

Vendor concessions earned $58,000 and partners provided beverages free of charge.

Banner and event partners exceeded the projected budget by 60 per cent.

The projected budget for commercialisation was reduced by $87,000 when the Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas came on board with $100,000 “worth of value in kind promotion” in exchange for broadcasting rights to the meet.

Christie said the organisation was not without its fair share of financial and logistic problems, including meeting financial commitments in a timely fashion.

“We faced new challenges everyday. This was the first major event held in this stadium so every problem we faced was a new problem. What I am pleased about is that with every issue we faced, we were able to resolve that within the day and it did not affect the success of the overall event,” he said.

“Despite it all we want to take this opportunity, even though it is late, to thank the many people in our community, we have had significant sponsors. Every level of our community assisted.”

Alpheus Finlayson, public relations director for the LOC, said for the country to return to hosting duties after a decade was an accomplishment in itself.

“We have not hosted CARIFTA since the Neymore Athletics CARIFTA in 2002, that was a success and so was this,” he said. “From 2002-2013 many years have passed and all sorts of new developments have happened, we did not have blogs then, and we do now, we did not have this many international media and many adjustments to make, but we do now, but I feel we adjusted accordingly.”

The meet benefitted greatly from 68 major sponsors which accounted for $638, 090, or 54 per cent of cash revenues.

Sponsorship categories included Government, Title, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Supplier, Media, Event and School.

National partners accounted for $310,000, including $175,000 from title sponsor BTC, $30,000 each from Colina and Kerzner International, $25,000 from First Caribbean, $15,000 each from Bahamas Brewery and JS Johnson and $10,000 each from RBC and Super Value.

“The games was therefore positioned as a national event with three primary objectives,” Christie said in the summary. “To create excitement and unite Bahamians in support of our athletes, fill the 15,000 seats in the stadium during the evening session, achieve budgeted revenue from ticket sales.”

Perennial champions Jamaica claimed yet another championship with a total of 69 medals, including 29 gold, 25 silver and 15 bronze.

The Bahamas was second with 31 medals - eight gold, 11 silver and 12 bronze.

Trinidad and Tobago was third with 20 medals - nine gold, one silver and 10 bronze.

Barbados finished fourth with 20 medals - four gold, 14 silver and two bronze.

Guadeloupe rounded out the top five countries with five medals - three gold, one silver and one bronze.

The final placing on the medal table is determined by gold medals, rather than overall medals won by a country.

It was a slight decline from 2012 when the Bahamas finished with 40 medals which included 14 gold, 14 silver and 12 bronze.

The 43rd edition of the games is slated to be held in Martinique in 2014.