PFJL’s Higgins gives thumbs up to hydration breaks

Finance committee chairman of Professional Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL), Peter Higgins, said although they have not started examining the commercial possibilities of hydration breaks in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL), he believes the possibilities look very fruitful.

Higgins, however, pointed out that hydration breaks for the JPL will require approval from the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) before they can be implemented, and they will not go deep into discussions to assess the possibilities, until they get the federation’s approval.

“Really, we have not looked at it because it is a regulatory issue. It has to come from the JFF. It hasn’t been raised (at PFJL meetings), and the truth is we can’t make a decision with regard to hydration breaks.”

“The PFJL’s responsibility is to commercialise the league. The JFF still has responsibility for overall organisation and operations and, in terms of breaks that may come in, it still has to be them and no discussion has been had so far,” Higgins said.

Nevertheless, he noted that the commercial opportunities these three-minute intermissions could provide in the midst of games can be enormous.

“Our league sponsors and club sponsors will get a chance to get their products or services shown on a valuable platform. The benefits will be obvious for the sponsors and the league.

“With the league going back to free-to-air, there are a lot of opportunities for commercialisation that, if implemented or introduced, broadcasters could sell that package.

“We would have two additional breaks and we want to sell additional ads during the break. Each break is three minutes, and it’s about how many 30 seconds ads can run.

“It could be about 12 (six each intermission) and that is not usually seen in a football game. So it would be a good opportunity, no doubt.”

He noted that the logic of the hydration break is to provide cooling breaks in very hot temperatures, and, although there have been pushbacks against hydration breaks, he thinks it can be of great value to the JPL.

“The Europeans are complaining that they don’t like it and I don’t think they use the hydration break in UEFA, for example. However, for one minute that’s two ads and, if it is two minutes, that’s four ads. So, for each break, you can run about six ads in that space, and those are premium times, so those ads would cost more,” he pointed.

“If this amount of ads is shown through the year, then we could get some more revenue coming into the league, and the broadcasters would also get more money coming into them as well.”

Harbour View general manager Clyde Jureidini also believes it is a good initiative for commercialisation that can help to involve more small to medium-size sponsors in the game.

“It’s a win-win situation for me and I think it could be experimented and implemented. It provided a remarkable amount of revenue at the World Cup.

“If you look at the figures and the cost of a commercial during the break,, it opens the window that a lot can be done. It could be done, not for your main sponsors but for other sponsors who want to come in a different area ... on a spot basis rather than on a continuous title sponsor or main sponsor basis. So it opens opportunities and time will tell in what creative ways it will be done,” Jureidini said.

He added that, although the Jamaican market is nothing compared to the World Cup market, a lot of revenue can be generated through this medium for the league.

“We will see. We might have to expand into the diaspora or new markets, but those are some of the challenges we will have to look to take on.

“We will have to open our minds to the opportunities but the potential is there. It’s for us to exploit it and to make the most of it.”

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com