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Sports and Games Ltd will serve as the ‘exclusive retail partner’ of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) for the next four years.
The deal was revealed by the TTFA Media today and celebrated with a photo-op that included local football president William Wallace, Sports and Games director Omar Hadeed and Men’s National Senior Team head coach Terry Fenwick.
(via TTFA Media)
According to the TTFA press statement. Sports and Games will act as ‘the sole domestic retailer of official playing kit, training wear and officially branded leisure apparel for all [men’s] national and women’s teams and the national Futsal and Beach football teams’.
Sports and Games will also receive online and match day branding opportunities, the exclusive rights to install and manage in-stadia retail outlets for all national team match days. The company will also have the opportunity to use national players and management for in-store ‘meet and greet opportunities’.
In return, Sports and Games agreed to ‘undertake a minimum annual spend on marketing and promotional campaigns’ and ‘will make staged licensing payments to the TTFA from generated sales’.
Wallace did not give any financial details on the value of the deal to the TTFA while general secretary Ramesh Ramdhan said he was unaware of Sports and Games’ agreed ‘minimum annual spend’ for marketing and promotion of the national kit.
Ramdhan said it was in Sports and Games’ interest to sell the national product and both parties agreed that the Soca Warriors replicas would be prominently placed to the front of their stores.
(Copyright MexSport/Concacaf)
Ramdhan further explained that the terms of the agreement between the TTFA and its current kit supplier, Avec Sport, state the local football body would get as many as 7,500 replicas to sell per year. This is separate from the millions in uniforms due to the various national teams.
Should the local football body sell them all, the TTFA, according to Ramdhan, is due 80 per cent slice from any additional sales.
In today’s press statement, Wallace trumpeted his third sponsor—after Avec Sport and Caribbean Chemicals—which he said was another sign of ‘growing confidence’ by the corporate world in his administration.
“We are building a commercial platform that has been lacking for too long and I am delighted that such a trusted and prominent retailer in Sports and Games has committed to joining the journey,” said Wallace. “Whatever effort we make as an administration, we cannot succeed without the assistance of partners who understand what we are trying to do. The growing landscape of willing and supportive organisations is testimony to the progress we’re making with our overall plan of action.”
Hadeed said Sports and Games believed in the ‘great potential’ of Trinidad and Tobago’s football.
(Courtesy Chevaughn Christopher/Wired868)
“I’m delighted that Sports and Games is now part of the process to see that potential realised,” Hadeed told the TTFA Media. “This is not just about selling merchandise, this is an opportunity to work alongside the new TTFA administration and helping them to take football back to the people of this nation.
“[…] I can assure everyone we will be playing our part to the full and I’m proud that we have the opportunity to do so.”
Editor’s Note: The TTFA technical committee has also announced screening sessions for its under-14 and under-16 teams. Click HERE for more details.
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Lasana Liburd is the managing director and chief editor at Wired868.com and a journalist with over 20 years experience at several Trinidad and Tobago and international publications including Play the Game, World Soccer, UK Guardian and the Trinidad Express.
