A California based company and a firm registered in Barbados have come together to stage a professional football league for teams in the Caribbean.
The Caribbean Football Trust Limited with offices in Florida and Canada and Concorde Sports Agency head quartered in Beverly Hills say plans are in the pipeline for a kickoff date of September 2015.
Both organisations have already signed an agreement and are pressing ahead with plans for the tournament expected to attract 20 teams competing for the league title and over three million US dollars in prize money.
The organisers say prize monies are expected to grow to five million US dollars after the first three years.
The proposed league, dubbed Major League Futbol, (MLF) will be the subject of a meeting in Orlando, Florida February 25 involving the Caribbean Football Trust, an advisory group of investors, regional government officials and other stakeholders of the league concept.
Concorde Sports Agency is a sports marketing firm which focuses on domestic and international player representation, player scouting, image rights and branding.
About the MLF
The CFTL®’s newly established MLF will initially start its competitive season in 2015 with a minimum of eighteen (18) clubs in three (3) groups of six (6) clubs each and a maximum of twenty (20) clubs in four (4) groups of five (5) clubs.
The MLF shall be operational for a period between September and July of each year. The first official competitive season shall consist of scheduled games three (3) days per week: Friday, Sunday and Wednesday; all double header games. The MLF shall organize, in addition to the regular season.
The MLF shall secure national teams and top clubs from selected Caribbean countries to make up the eighteen (18) or twenty (20) member league. The targeted countries for the first five (5) years are as follows: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana, St Vincent, Suriname, French Guiana, Grenada, St. Bart’s and Puerto Rico.
All of these could choose to participate with their young developing national teams (meaning locally-based players) and/or new/old clubs to include top elite players. The more developed football countries, such as Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Haiti can participate in the MLF through selected franchise clubs.
Players from other CONCACAF countries, such as Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras and Venezuela will be considered as non-import players within the MLF structure. This will secure a Caribbean and Central American player infusion that is so badly needed in the Caribbean and Central American region.