JAAA to be renamed Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association

In a thrust to improve its image and earning power, the 78-year old Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), has decided to move away from its "amateur" status.

Howard Aris, JAAA President, said at the Association's Annual General Meeting recently, that they finalised a decision on a new name.

"The new name, after is to be gazetted by the Jamaican Government, will be Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association. The emphasis will be on administration, which is what we really do," said Aris.

The Association has also made a major move to further capitalize on the nation's recent success in the sport by signing a three year partnership with a top marketing company.

"We have retained Octogan, one of the top marketing companies in the world to see how they can assist us in identifying sponsors worldwide," Aris added.

Meanwhile, despite reporting a surplus of $3.1 million for the 2010 financial year, Ludlow Watts, honorary Treasurer of the JAAA, said one major financial disappointment for the Association this year was the national championships in June.      

"Normally we would take in in excess of $6 million from our gate receipts (but) this year, we had just $2 million (because) it was not a world championship year, it was not an Olympic year, we had rain, we had the limited State of Emergency and we had the football world cup, so a culmination of all those adversely affected national championships