Hosting the 2004 CARIFTA Games will come with a heavy price tag, probably in excess of half a million dollars.

But Bermuda Track and Field Association president Judith Simmons revealed yesterday that the Bermuda Government was not expected to commit any significant amount towards that total. Instead, all sectors of the community would be urged to rally behind the association and make financial contributions.

"No, we don't expect the Government to hand us a cheque for any amount. We already know that and were never naive enough to ever think that. But the policy of our world governing body is that without any governmental support they will not allow any country to host a major competition . They realise that when sponsorship support from the corporate community is not there then they don't want their federations to be left holding the bag with years of debt to pay," said the president.

She added: "Government support is there to pick up as a safety net those areas that are not covered, but we will work to try to cover all our areas so that the minimum amount of help comes from Government. But we can't say what amount this will be."

Simmons, however, complimented the work carried out by Sports Minister Randy Horton, reminding how he attended the CARIFTA Games in the Bahamas in March and became involved in talks that ultimately led to Bermuda making a formal application to act as Games hosts two years down the road.

With Horton's help, the BTFA made a formal request for the Games, their bid eventually edging out that of Guadeloupe.

"What happens is that the BTFA has to bid for it and the support has to come from Government. Without Government's support they wouldn't even entertain the bid. Mr. Horton was at the Games in Nassau in March and he was excited about CARFITA and at the time said that he would like to have it in Bermuda. Based on that he said that he would be giving full governmental support for the BTFA to make a bid," said Simmons.

"At that CARIFTA Congress in Nassau we were given a two-week window to present a written proposal with written support from Government, and that was sent by courier to the North American and Central American and Caribbean Regional Office in Puerto Rico within that two week period.

"We don't have an exact price tag for the event because we haven't looked at the accommodation for a number of people. The cost will probably be around $500,000. We know that is a base price that it has cost other countries, but it depends on what you have and what you want to make of it. If you want to have something elaborate it will cost more, if you want to have something not too elaborate it will cost closer to that amount. Bermuda is an expensive society so we can rest assured that ours will be around $500,000."

But the president warned that while Bermuda had been fortunate to achieve their goal of having the Games return to the Island for the first time since 1980, it would only take place if the entire public got involved.

Bermuda could not sit idly by and take it for granted that money would be easily made available.

"There is an awful amount of work to be done in every area. It's not just about the finances . . . we need the entire support of the Bermuda community, corporate and otherwise in order to pull this off," she said.

"This is for Bermuda, not for the BTFA. We need to make that very clear, and if the support is not forthcoming then we need to withdraw our bid because we cannot afford that type of debt. We have already started to work towards CARIFTA, two years is not a long time.

"We took two years to plan the CAC Cross Country Championships that were successfully held here last year and we have a base of what needs to be done. Although this is a track and field event which means that we will have many more events, a lot more people, the principle is the same as far as the organisation is concerned."