MIDH Minister Comments on BEBL’s Civic Cost Concerns

When reporters caught up with Minister Espat in Belize City today, he was also asked about the concerns raised by the Belize Elite Basketball League over the price tag attached to using the Belize City Civic Center. As we reported, teams that host home games inside the Civic are required to pay five thousand dollars for each game played. The league’s management argues that the fee is well above their budget. The facility is managed by the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing. So, we asked the minister for a response to the league’s concerns. Here is what he told us.

Julius Espat

Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructural Development

“I don’t see how. The situation is that every home team pays five thousand dollars for the use of the Civic on the night that they are the home team. What do they get for that? We provide security. If you go the civic and compare it to any other arena that the country has it is one of the areas that is maintained to the highest level. It is clean. No bathroom is leaking, no bathroom is broken. All the chairs are properly placed. There are clean. The environment is healthy the air-conditioning works. We provide even security for the games. For those five thousand dollars, what does the home team gain? Well they have access to the ticketing and they have access to the bar. So, if they want to reduce the rates, no problem, then give us the ticketing and give us the bar and then there is no charge. So it is a private, public partnership and we are doing our part. If the Government of Belize, through us does not maintain the civic they won’t even have an auditorium to be able to work or practice in. I think it is a balanced approach. They all signed the contracts before they made interviews. All those contracts I have on my desk signed by them because they know it is fair, it is extremely fair. And, the misconception is that two teams pay for the same night, one team, the home team pays for the civic and they have the ability to generate the income and they do generate income. The bar alone generates more than five thousand dollars and the thickening alone does that.”