What Next For Caribbean Sports?
Hosting Olympics or FIFA World Cup!

by Herman Hall

What next for Caribbean sports? The staging of the Olympics or FIFA World Cup of soccer! That’s no longer the thoughts of a daydreamer. Now that that the English speaking Caribbean successfully hosted ICC World Cup, the premier competition of cricket, it’s feasible that within the next 20 to 26 years Caribbean island-nations including Cuba and the Dominican Republic can jointly host the Olympics or soccer’s World Cup. For more than a century cricket brought the English speaking Caribbean together. Cricket accomplished what political, economic and religious organs tried but failed to achieve—the idea of Caribbean islands working together for the benefit of all.

Cricket contributed immensely towards the elimination of colonialism and imperialism. It contributed to the achievement of independence and the development of the modern English speaking Caribbean and brought the world’s third largest sporting event to the Caribbean— ICC World Cup tournament. By using Caribbean or West Indies cricket as the example, specifically the hosting of the 2007 ICC World Cup, Caribbean islands can make a solid case for jointly hosting the Olympics of 2024 or 2028 or FIFA World Cup in 2022 or 2026.

From a moral and just perspective, the Caribbean has earned the right to stage the two most popular sporting events. Caribbean nations have participated with great alacrity in Olympic Games and soccer’s World Cup. Haiti was in one of the early World Cup tournaments and Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago were much admired when they found themselves in it more recently. Caribbean Olympians routinely bring Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals to their respective nations; Cuba and Jamaica are very successful at each Game, but medals have gone to other islands, including the Bahamas. Furthermore, almost every Caribbean island has been represented in the Olympics.

The Caribbean’s ideal time zone and geographical location enhances the islands as a prime region to host sporting events targeted for global TV audiences especially the lucrative North American and European markets. Financially successful sporting events are no longer dependent on the size of stadiums and population of the host country; today’s global sporting and entertainment events depend on worldwide television audiences for success.

Rapidly improving communication and transportation systems make it possible for any nation to host a mammoth sporting spectacular, enhancing the case for bringing the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup to the Caribbean.

Pessimists may say there are too many governments, too many languages and dialects and too much bureaucracy in the Caribbean, which make it impossible to host the Olympics. While optimists will remind us that Japan and South Korea jointly hosted an Olympic Game and nine Caribbean nations, including Guyana on the South American mainland, hosted the 2007 ICC World Cup seen by two billion people worldwide.

Let’s play devils advocate and fast-forward to Caribbean islands hosting the 2022 or 2026 FIFA World Cup. Warm-up matches can be played in the smaller islands such as Grenada, St. Lucia, Antigua, Aruba, and St. Maarten. First round matches can be played in Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Haiti and Martinique; Cuba, Dominican Republic and Jamaica can host the semifinals with the finals being held in Cuba or Dominican Republic.

The Olympic Games of 2024 or 2028 will be perfect in the Caribbean. Boxing in Trinidad and Tobago; the Marathon in Grenada, St. Lucia or Guadeloupe; Swimming in the Dominican Republic; Track and Field in Cuba; Basketball, Tennis and Volleyball in Jamaica; Baseball in the Dominican Republic and Cuba; and Opening and Closing ceremonies in Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago and Cuba. Who says there has to be a single opening ceremony? That’s the tradition but a new precedent can be set by staging various segments of opening and closing ceremonies in different islands and at different times and days. Television, the internet and futuristic communication systems will enable opening and closing ceremonies held in multiple countries.

Caribbean governments start the ball rolling! Create a regional organization today to study the feasibility, and to draft a proposal, for hosting the Olympics or FIFA World Cup between 2022 and 2028.