 Alright, welcome back to the Sportsmax Zone, let's shift our focus now to cricket. When US Broke late last month at Ghani's Business Month, Chris Passat had sold the Jamaica-Talluahs franchise back to the Caribbean Bramble League due to a lack of support from the Jamaican government, it further highlighted the sense of gloom around cricket in Jamaica. Mela, the departing Talluahs CEO, was quoted in the Jamaica Observer as saying, Jamaica is a big brand, a global brand. From what I understand, the government doesn't need CPL or the Talluahs to showcase their brand. Maybe Antigua will want that global exposure and Jamaica doesn't need it. We were told on more than one occasion that the other sports bring more to Jamaica, but for the biggest Caribbean island to have iconic stadiums, have some of the world's greatest cricketers and yet not have cricket in Jamaica is bad. While the unruhable Minister of Sport Olivia Babsey Grange has come out defending her ministry and the Jamaican government. We did our best to give support to the Talluahs. The Talluahs bear our country's name but are not a national team and are therefore not covered in the yearly allocations to the Jamaica Cricket Association. However, we had sought to provide special support to the Talluahs at the level that our funds will permit. It is estimated that the Talluahs required US $1 million each year for more than $150 million Jamaican dollars. In order to give them more, we would have had to cut the funding to more than 40 national sports federations such as football, netball, track and field who depend on government to run their programs and have been requesting additional sums which we are challenged to provide. Also, the Jamaica Cricket Association receives more funding each year from the Sports Development Foundation than all other national federations except football and track and field. So, team, what did you make of the minister's response to Jamaica losing their CPL franchise? And Lance, I know there are a lot of mixed reactions. Many people will agree with Babsey Grange. Some are saying that that's not a good enough response. I'm not sure I would say it's not a good enough response. From her perspective, is a reasonable position that she's putting forward. It's just that there are other issues on the other side of the equation that puts you thinking about where some of this money could be directed. And I know that running a country financially isn't easy. We know that in the Caribbean, the issues of health and education and basic necessities of the society demand the government provide a proper living for people. So there is the school of thought that the government has to be very balanced in how it allocates its funds to deal with these issues. The fact is though that, as we have all accepted for decades now, that sport is a very underestimated aspect of any society. And especially in the Caribbean where cricket traditionally has been such a strong part of the society, the cricket fan in Jamaica is hurt by certain developments as far as the game is concerned. If Babsey Grange is suggesting that based on the allocation that they have designed or allocated for sport and the CPL franchise is asking for an amount that throws the entire equation out of whack, that is a position that she can put forward. But on the other side of the equation, the huge benefits that can accrue from staging CPL matches at the same time cannot be scoffed at. And to me, while I respect what she has said, there is that aspect as well that she makes no reference of, because there is huge benefits financially to a country staging CPL cricket, if properly implemented. So that is the aspect of her response that is missing for me. Yeah, but I do accept that governments have a tight show to run financially and it's easy for any person with a vested interest to say you need to put the money here. But the governments, it's on their shoulders to make these decisions. I just think that the other side of the equation is missing in what she has said. Yeah, I think she failed to mention, Ricardo, you know the benefits that come with the CPL, what did you make of her response? To be honest, I'm not completely sure. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I think there has to be an evaluation of how much the Ministry of Sport in Jamaica spends, as opposed to let's say the government of Barbados or the government of Grenada, because she makes what I consider to be an important point. And I'm not saying she is right because the numbers may turn out to show that no, there is still not enough investment in sports in Jamaica. But I think the evaluation as to how much is spent on sports in Jamaica versus how much is spent in the other Caribbean countries. Because, yes, in Barbados, in Grenada, in St. Kitts and Nevis, where maybe cricket is the dominant sport, it maybe is easier to spend a large chunk of your sports allocation to cricket. To cricket, it might not be as easy in the Jamaican setup. So I think all of that has to be done and maybe it is that we here at Sportsmax will have to do that research ourselves and come up with those numbers because I think only then can we truly know if what the Minister is saying is really making dollars and cents here. Because I think otherwise we're all going off feeling, this is how I feel about it. But the one thing is for Shorelands and Mariah is that the Jamaican cricket fan is frustrated and has been frustrated for a long time. One, because for a long time before 2023 at all levels, Jamaica's cricketers had been going backwards, finishing at the low end of U-15 and U-17 and U-19 tournaments of senior competitions as well. Of course, if you're not including the Jamaican Talowas, which as the Minister pointed out is a franchise team and not a national team. And so there was frustration with the Jamaica Cricket Association and with Jamaica, no, not bidding for matches in the T20 World Cup, then you lose the CPL franchise. Accumulatively, it comes across as if right across the board there isn't enough care for the sport of cricket and that there is generally a feeling that cricket is dying and it does not make sense to invest in the sport in the way that I think the genuine fans want the government and want private sector to invest in the sport of cricket. But I think it's just really difficult to make a determination because you're always going to have the different viewpoints, but as in trying to determine what makes sense and what doesn't or what is right and what is wrong, I just feel that we need some pure numbers to help in this debate. And the thing is, Lance, you know, as a government, the fact that Jamaica would have hosted the CPL before, people would have grown accustomed and they would feel as if, okay, so then you're going backward because if we could have done it before with whatever allocation we had at that point and we don't know the exact number, so we don't know if it was more at that time or if it's more now or they'd feel as if the money is being mismanaged or mishandled because it's not being, and as Ricardo pointed out, it's not only the CPL, it's various cricket tournaments that, you know, Jamaica has refrained from of course hosting and all those different things. So again, I understand the frustration because people feel as if this one sport in particular is being treated badly, it's being neglected. And it wasn't clear in the release from the Ministry of Sport, right, but there is an aspect of it that says Minister Grain said cumulatively her Ministry Sports Division and the Sports Development Foundation provided direct cash payments of 13 million Jamaican to the tallowers, including the purchase of tickets for matches between 2015 and 2019. Now, from what I remember, the CEO and the owners of the Jamaica tallowers pointed to 2019 as the time when government support stopped for the Jamaica tallowers. And so I don't think anybody is disputing that there has been support on the part of the government in the past. It is about since 2019, that support has been non-existent essentially and that has made it more difficult for the franchise to flourish and made it impossible for the owners to continue or to maintain the franchise in Jamaica. And I'm not sure where someone like André Russell would stand on his political leanings because when I heard him recently complain that he's very disappointed with the country losing the CPL franchise and not bidding to stage World Cup T20 matches, it just came across to me as a genuine cricket superstar who was worried about the trend that he was seeing for the game that he loves and the game that has brought him riches and the game that he would like to see inspire younger players coming up after him be motivated to be a part of. And he just felt as if the stage is not being set for young teenage cricketers in Jamaica to be attracted to the sport and aspire to be professional cricketers because there is more the government can do to assist in that process. I think that's what that's a general point that André Russell was making. So this is a critical issue and Bob Zagrange has been known to be a strong supporter of sport in the past. And I think there are cricket fans now who are beginning to question her. Certainly with cricket. Certainly with cricket because in many other sports I don't think there can be a complaint that Olivia Grange has been supportive and helpful in her assistance as the sports minister. But quickly again Lance and Mariah because I think while Bob Zagrange is responsible specifically for sport in Jamaica I think this issue goes beyond her. Yes. I think when you look at the events that we're talking about the cricket World Cup the Caribbean Premier League and the investment that is required that needs to come from a higher level. That needs to come from the level of the prime minister that needs to come from the level of the finance minister that needs to come from the level of tourism. And then it's a cumulative effort with the sports ministry being part of that. Now the question that you may ask of Olivia Bob Zagrange is has the sports ministry done enough to sensitize the wider government as to the benefits or the Jamaica Cricket Association itself because they have a role in this as well. I don't want to talk too much about the JC. We have to leave this one here for today. That's all the time we've got. But we're going to take a quick break. When we come back we'll continue with the show.