The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

WITHIN the first month of the new year, the Bahamas has already taken part in three major initiatives, which sets the tone for what the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture expects to be a “breakout year” for sports tourism.

“Our goal is to become the number one sports destination in the region. The way to do that is to attract the number one sports teams in the region. We just had the LPGA in town enjoying the best weather they have ever seen. We have the World Relays coming to the Bahamas and that means the greatest athletes will be coming to our shores. You saw Usain Bolt was down here a couple of weeks ago, went down to the stadium, checked it out got a feel for where he will be competing. We have Tiger Woods bringing a very special event. We are going to have professional baseball, professional soccer and we will end the year with the first ever Bahama Bow, NCAA football game in the national stadium and it is just going to be a fantastic year,” said Dr Daniel Johnson

“Our first move in the basketball arena was to ensure that we do a long term game plan with the Miami Heat. Now that we have done that, other teams are calling asking how they can set up a camp in the Bahamas. Not just from professional basketball, but from professional baseball, professional soccer, professional hockey, professional swimming, professional racing, professional lacrosse.”

In 2014, the Bahamas has hosted the fifth edition of Sunshine Insurance’s Race Weekend, the LPGA Pure Silk Bahamas Classic and now “Bahamas Night” at the American Airlines Arena, when the Miami Heat hosted the Los Angeles Lakers.

Dr Johnson said the Bahamas’ relationship with major professional and collegiate teams in recent years has garnered great interest internationally and set the stage for a myriad of opportunities for Bahamians.

“You see a domino effect. When you host these teams, like at the Battle 4 Atlantis, there is an economic impact that occurs, so we are positioning ourselves so we can be the beneficiaries of this economic impact of large scale sports. With the Battle 4 Atlantis you are looking at an impact of $25 million of revenue. We as the government tend to seed that, we put in $1-2 million and we get a return on that investment,” Johnson said.

“But there is a bigger return. There are careers in the business of sports. I am not talking about who is going to win a race or win a game. I want to know who is doing the broadcasting, who is doing the production, logistics, coaching, transportation, marketing and that economic impact goes a lot further. These are the areas we are looking for Bahamians to explore.”

Greg Rolle, director of sports tourism, outlined the goals for his department, including a new venture for the Bahamas in the hockey arena.

“Our goals are two-fold, we want to increase visitor arrival and expenditure and our second goal is to increase opportunities for Bahamians to get a ‘piece of the pie’ when it comes to sports tourism. We keep it simple and we have specific targets for what we want to do,” he said.

“We want to have a hockey exhibition in the Bahamas. If we can do what we did with the Miami Heat, with the versatility we have with the ballroom to transform it into an arena and training centre, then we can do it to hockey. If we can do it with hockey, they will see that the Bahamas, we may be a small country, but we have big ambitions when it comes to making things like this happen.”

After dominating the market in the South Florida region with the Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins and Florida Panthers, Dr Johnson said the Bahamas will continue to explore other markets and reach a wider audience.

“We will continue up the east coast. We will be looking at Atlanta, New York, Toronto, London, that will be our Atlantic swing. We are always looking at a west coast swing, looking at the Asian market because we know Baha Mar is coming. And we have to remember we have a major European market that we were always heavy in, we have lost some traction in that and Africa is about to boom. So we want to do some things in soccer that will bring a nations cup, a pan African Cup, a major event to the Bahamas. We are also looking at the South American market with Brazil booming right now. This opens the conversation for us as a country for how we present a different marketing strategy with a commercial product attached to it,” he said.

“Traditionally the Bahamas has had the three s’s that we have made our living on - sun, sand and sea. Now I am going to add another s and that is sports. Next year we have one more ‘s’ that we will add to sports - stay tuned.”