Future of Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium hangs in the balance

Even as cricket stakeholders want to host local and international matches at the Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium, the venue's future could be determined by whether Government is successful in forging a public-private partnership to manage the facility.

The 25,000-seater stadium in Florence Hall, located just outside Falmouth on Jamaica's scenic north-western coast, was built in time for the region's staging of the 2007 ICC World Cup. But the facility, managed by the state-run Independence Park Limited (IPL), has since hosted only a handful of international women's cricket matches and a few first-class fixtures.

Jamaica hosted a regional four-day cricket match at the venue in 2009 before another two followed in early 2020.

In the summer of 2021 the Pakistan cricket team used the venue to prepare for a two-Test series at Sabina Park in Kingston.

Earlier this month the stadium hosted two quarter-final matches in the Jamaica Cricket Association's (JCA's) premier Twenty20 competition.

But IPL General Manager Major Desmon Brown, who noted that a prior plan to have the facility transformed into a sports tourism and training centre was scrapped due to lack of funding, said the Development Bank of Jamaica is making arrangement to lure private sector investment.

"The decision the Government has taken [is] to seek private partnership to develop the place," he told the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday.

"We don't know what would happen to the facility [but] we are really hoping it would be [used for] sports. But he who has the gold makes the rules, so we can't say whether or not it includes that [light installation], but the development bank is putting together documents to private sector people to see if we can find an interested party," Brown explained.

JCA Chief Executive Officer Courtney Francis told the Observer the venue is a big part of the association's plans.