JABA woos foreign sponsors
THE Jamaica Basketball Association (JABA) is pursuing a major sponsorship deal with sports and apparel companies in Asia, Europe and the USA that could secure the future of the sport here for at least another three years, according to its president Ajani Williams.
“The interest is from the USA, Europe and most significantly Asia in terms of the most pointed interest,” Williams told the Observer in an exclusive interview yesterday.
“Essentially basketball would be able to chart a significant course and kind of release the government from some of the responsibilities to focus mainly on infrastructure and maybe we would actually be able to pour some of our own funds into some of that infrastructure in partnership with the government,” he added.
Williams, who is serving his first term as president of JABA, while declining to identify the companies being courted and the value of the prospective arrangement, is optimistic of consummating the deal with an Asian company by the end of February.
“I think there is a 70-30 chance of success. I don’t know if that would move to 80 or 90 in the next coming weeks, but yes I am in talks with some Asian counterparts that would land us (JABA) a deal that would basically clothe and put shoes on the team and also give us significant funding, outside of Jamaica which would be a significant amount of money,” he reasoned.
“Those sports and apparel companies that want to enter Jamaica and definitely don’t mind looking into basketball as an avenue to enter Jamaica. They are buying young brands like Samardo Samuels and Jerome Jordon … as they are about to reach the NBA. So they get the best of both worlds, they get a Jamaican brand and they get a bit of a up and coming NBA brand,” Williams added.
The former NBA player indicated that the prospective sponsorship deal would bolster the plans of his executive to spread basketball islandwide.
“Instead of the government subsidising us, we would now become essentially partners in terms of moving basketball forward. We would be able to survive… both our national programme and our local programme would be able to survive and grow. I would say for the next three to five years, if we consummate that deal. It would be significant,” Williams said.
“If not, as I said we are looking at a number of sponsors, not just Asia, but also Europe and we have gotten positive feedback from the USA, Europe and Asia. But obviously the Asian market seems to have the most cash,” he posited.
“In my opinion, brand names are somewhat important, but right now for our country’s development, as long as there is quality with the product that everyone is wearing or using, then cash would be more important to our long-term development,” Williams reasoned.