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THE JAMAICA Premier League (JPL) and the ISSA schoolboy football competitions will have to find new broadcast partners come the start of their respective seasons this year after Digicel announced SportsMax’s impending shutdown.
In an announcement yesterday, Digicel announced an end to their brands Loop News and SportsMax.
While Loop News has been closed with immediate effect, SportsMax will wind down its operations over time, with the final broadcast date set for August 8.
In a letter to the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ), Digicel’s Chief Business Officer, Liam Donnelly, explained that the decision was made to match the company’s change in direction.
“As we look ahead, our strategy must align with the opportunities that will shape our next chapter at Digicel. As such, we will wind down our SportsMax and Loop News business units,” the letter read.
The decision means an end to the long-standing relationships between SportsMax and the JPL and ISSA schoolboy football competitions.
SportsMax has been the broadcasting sponsor of the various schoolboy competitions since 2018.
However, ISSA president Keith Williams said there would be no disruptions to the broadcasting of the Manning Cup, daCosta Cup, and Champions Cup seasons this year.
He explained at the end of last season that they hd been informed that their contract with SportsMax would not be renewed.
This allowed the association ample time to find alternative broadcasters, which they will announce in short order.
“Our contract with SportsMax and Digicel came to an end last December, and we were already made aware of the fact that those contracts would not be renewed and that they would not seek to re-engage us,” Wellington said.
“We have been aware for more than six months now that we would have new partners for this upcoming season. We have made alternate arrangements, and we do have arrangements for another broadcast partner.”
He continued, “We are not yet willing to disclose who the media partner will be, but we will do so in short other.”
Outgoing chairman of Professional Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL), Chris Williams, admitted that his organisation was searching for a new broadcast partner as it was still unprepared for the upcoming JPL season.
Williams expressed his gratitude for the years of support from SportsMax and said it played a major role in not just JPL’s operations but the careers of several players and fans in the region’s sporting community.
He said the priority now is to find an alternative solution in the vacuum left by SportsMax’s absence.
“They told us from a few months ago, so it didn’t catch us by surprise,” he said. “We’re grateful to them for giving us the heads-up and giving us the opportunity to try to prepare.
“We’re not prepared at this stage. We don’t have an alternative in terms of quality of production, in terms of reach, in terms of cost - we don’t have that,” Williams explained.
“We’re still scrambling to find a solution, but we appreciate the work that they did, and we’re sorry it ended. I want to go on record to say thank you to the powers that be at Digicel, all of the leaders and all the team members at SportsMax.”
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