By Simon Evans
BRIDGETOWN Barbados (Reuters) - Caribbean football officials believe a new regional super-league could be in place within two years but the ambitious plan faces major hurdles.
Discussions about the league, proposed by the sport’s regional governing body CONCACAF, took place at the Soccerex Americas Forum on Wednesday and there was no shortage of enthusiasm.
“It is just a question of time,” David John Williams, owner of leading Trinidadian club W Connection, told Reuters.
“I think we have a very unique opportunity – we have sun, sea and sand and if we can marry sports with that, the sky is the limit for us."
CONCACAF set up a taskforce in March to examine the plan with advisors from England’s Premier League, North America’s Major League Soccer and Mexico’s Liga MX as well as several Caribbean officials.
The confederation has also hired outside consultants to undertake a study of the market but so far the taskforce has held only one meeting.
There may not be a time-line yet for the project but Williams, a member of the taskforce, believed it possible to have a league within two years.
“When you look at timetables, it would be ideal to have a Caribbean league up and running before the 2018 World Cup," he said.
A previous attempt at a pan-Caribbean league, set up by former CONCACAF president Jack Warner, lasted just three seasons between 1992 and 1994.
No decision has been taken on the format of the competition but Williams said he would prefer a full scale, traditional league structure.
“To serve Caribbean football a league structure is going to be better, you need to have Caribbean footballers playing week in week out as in any league in the world," he said.
"How that is going to pan out will be left for the taskforce members to work out."
A major concern is the effect such a league would have on existing domestic competitions.
“The issue for me is going to be the structure of it," said Oliver McIntosh, CEO of Digicel Sportsmax, the region’s leading sports television network. "The local leagues are already suffering and struggling.
“If you form a regional competition, taking the best teams or best players out, then what is left at the local level? If you take a lot of the sponsorship money and television money out to a Caribbean league then what is left?
"I think it has to be very well thought out to ensure that what would be the feeder leagues will be supported."
There were also plenty of logistical and organisational issues that the plan’s backers would have to confront, McIntosh added.
“The realism is that we are 25 countries, 25 governments, 25 different border restrictions and regulations, how does that all work?"
(Editing by Ian Ransom)