JFF dominates $216m SDF grants

The Sports Development Foundation (SDF) granted $216,829,036 in subventions to local national sporting associations in 2015, according to the latest annual report published by the government agency.

Of that amount, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) received more than $70,000,000, while the next three top-funded sporting associations combined received $69,133,192.

Some 40 sporting bodies were listed in the 2015 financial report, but while the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) ($26,652,242); Jamaica Cricket Association ($23,800,000), and Netball Jamaica ($18,680,850) received millions of dollars in government support, some associations did not receive a dollar.

Those who got no funding included the Jamaica Bobsleigh Federation, the Jamaica Rifle Association, the Jamaica Ski Federation, and the Jamaica Cricket Umpires Association. In fact, the JFF received around $6 million less than the other 33 bodies combined.

The top four recipients were the only associations to receive more than $10 million in funding.

$40M FOR MEET

Outside of the funding that the JAAA received, the SDF pumped $42,124,000 into the Jamaica International Invitational IAAF World Challenge meeting, which is held inside the National Stadium in the first Saturday in May annually.

The financials for the years 2014 and 2015 were published, and in both reports, the JFF emerged with the lion's share.

The 2015 figure was a major leap over 2014 as well, as the JFF received only $45 million in that year. The SDF said that its grants in 2015 had exceeded its budgeted amount of $186,660,000 by $30,169,000. That included an additional $25,600,000 given to the JFF.

The SDF received a major portion of its funding from gaming, with $606,971,000 coming from that one source, $11,160,000 coming from its investments, and $14,690,000 from other income sources.

The Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act states that the SDF is entitled to 40 per cent of the gaming proceeds received by the Culture, Sports, Arts, Health, and Education Fund.

Among the SDF's mandates are to fund programmes of the national sporting associations and to facilitate the development and growth of talent and skills through the construction of sporting facilities.

Several government agencies also received grants totalling $45,561,138. Those included the Institute of Sports, which was given $16,500,000; the Social Development Commission, which received $16,952,410; the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, which received $8,794,227 and Independence Park Limited, which received $3,314,501.