Small yearns for Champs coverage by FOX Sports, ESPN

PRESIDENT OF the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), Dr Walton Small, said that one of his biggest regrets as he gets ready to oversee his final ISSA GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships is that the event has not yet attracted coverage from global broadcasters such as FOX Sports and ESPN.

Small will hand over leadership of the school sports governing body at the end of this academic year, when he retires as principal of Wolmer’s Boys’ School. He was a member of ISSA when the competition with boys and girls merged in 1999 and has been at the helm since 2007.

“One of the things that we have not done yet is to get that niche in the external market in terms of attracting an ESPN and FOX, and that is one of things that we know will happen, (but) we will have to look at the culture of how we present and how we organise the event,” he said.

Small said that a company, Greenfield Media, has been formed to help take the championships, media production to the next level and the hope is that within three to five years, the event will attract the attention of global media.

“We want the revenue from this company to be ploughed back into schools to develop their fields. It’s in its baby stage right now. We have to invest to attract, so we can command more and can give back more to the school,” he said.

A major entertainment package became a feature and staple of the ISSA GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Championships in 2010, as part of the CHAMPS 100 anniversary celebrations. Small noted that in the early years, ISSA would produce the entertainment package itself, but the association later hired out the job as a way of lifting the standard of production.

“When you lift the quality of the product and invest your money in the product, you can command sponsorship at that level. If we were at the same level, we couldn’t be attracting that kind of money. We are able to attract the sponsor at a higher level because of the fact that they love this product,” Small said.

IMPORTANCE OF INVESTING

He added that when he first became president, the association was attracting only $5 million in sponsorship, whereas last year, GraceKennedy renewed sponsorship to the tune of $80 million. ISSA also recognised the importance of investing its own funds into the Champs production.

“You have to invest. You invest and make it look good for TV. Now we have it being streamed all over the world. You can attract the sponsors who will want to invest and we made it more attractive to our sponsors by employing professional people,” he said.

This has also allowed ISSA to be able to give back more to schools that participate in the event, with a minimum of $50,000 going to schools just for participation.

Other achievements of which Small is proud is the improvement in electronic processing of registration and the peace initiative, which has seen a major reduction in Champs-related violence.

One of the things that we have not done yet is to get that niche in the external market in terms of attracting an ESPN and FOX, and that is one of things that we know will happen, (but) we will have to look at the culture of how we present and how we organise the event