Basketball promoters have been complaining recently about the high rent which is being charged by the National Sports Commission (NSC) for the use of the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH).
According to the clubs and promoters, the NSC charges a whopping fee of $50,000 per night.
Travis Shepherd of the Next Level Entertainment (NLE) group who just concluded their annual basketball extravaganza told Stabroek Sport that the price was a major concern for them and they are calling on the NSC to be a bit more flexible since at the end of the day, the players are the ones who are getting the benefits.
“The high rental fee of the Sports Hall did impact in a major way. It’s ridiculous when you have to pay $50,000 per night and also we had to pay transportation for the eight teams that took part in our tournament from linden, then we had to find meals for them and so on and as a matter of fact from a business perspective, we didn’t even break even,” said the young promoter.
Asked if they would stage the tournament again next year, Shepherd said that although the price is not really encouraging, they intend to continue for the love of basketball.
“We will try our best to keep it up because we love the sport [basketball] and we know how important our tournament is to the players out there. But we are also asking for the government to work with us in the future,” said Shepherd.
Meanwhile Director of Sports Neil Kumar said that while many may complain he believes the price is reasonable and the NSC has been flexible in their dealings with the promoters and basketball clubs.
He said that out of all the various disciplines that normally occupy the venue, only basketball and futsal are asked to pay a rental fee. This, he said, is because the other sports do not make money and it would be a bit unfair to charge them for using the venue.
He said also that the NSC usually has to pay almost $10,000 per night whenever the lights at the CASH are used and this is what normally jacks up the price for the venue.
The Cliff Anderson Sports Hall is the most used of the two indoor facilities in Guyana. The National Gymnasium which is the other facility cannot accommodate basketball but according to Kumar plans are in place to do some massive upgrades at this venue. How-ever, he said that the present economic downturn is taking its toll on the NSC.