Bahamas News
UAB AND OHIO ACCEPT 2017 BAHAMAS BOWL INVITATIONS
#Bahamas, November 27, 2017 – Nassau – UAB will represent Conference USA and Ohio will represent the Mid-American Conference as both institutions accepted bids to the 2017 Bahamas Bowl, set for Friday, Dec. 22 in Nassau’s Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.
The Bahamas Bowl will be played at 12:30 p.m. ET, and the contest will be televised on ESPN and broadcast on the Bahamas Bowl Radio Network. The early invitation allows both UAB and Ohio additional time to prepare to play in an international destination, including obtaining passports for those who still need them to travel to the Bahamas as well as giving extra time for fans to make their travel plans to Nassau for bowl week.
Tickets to the 2017 Bahamas Bowl can be purchased through at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium Box Office, online at NSA-Bahamas.com and by phone at 325-0376.
The 16 combined victories (eight each for UAB and Ohio) between this year’s teams is tied for the most in Bahamas Bowl history with last year’s matchup between Eastern Michigan and Old Dominion. This will be the first meeting between UAB and Ohio. Conference USA leads the Bahamas Bowl series, 2-1 over the MAC.
UAB (8-4 overall, 6-2 in Conference USA play) is one of the most inspirational stories of the 2017 college football season. The Blazers football program was cut, along with two other sports, after the 2014 season, but a unprecedented fundraising effort by businesses and fans in the Birmingham area resulted in an announcement six months later by the university that the program would return in 2017. After the two-year hiatus, UAB returned to the field and won a school-FBS record eight games. Head coach Bill Clark, who is in his second season (14-10 record at UAB; 25-14 in three seasons overall as a collegiate head coach) at UAB, stayed through the program’s hiatus and led the Blazers to the school’s second bowl bid in its’ history (2004 Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl).
“The amount of work our coaches and players have put in over the last two years has been incredible, and we are thrilled to play in the Bahamas Bowl,” said Clark. “Ohio is a very solid team led by an outstanding coach in Frank Solich, and it is going to be a great game. Our players will be ready for the challenge and look to become the first team to win a bowl game at UAB.”
The Blazers come into the Bahamas Bowl with six victories in their last eight games to finish second in Conference USA’s West Division. UAB won all six home games, and the six C-USA victories were also the most in the Blazers’ history. The Blazers average 29.6 points per game, and UAB has scored 30 or more points six times. UAB averaged 190.2 rushing yards per game, led by true freshman running back Spencer Brown, who broke the school record for freshman rushing yards with 1,292. Redshirt junior quarterback A.J. Erdely tied a school record with 13 rushing touchdowns, which is also the most by a Blazer QB, and he has accounted for 29 touchdowns (13 rushing, 16 passing).
UAB has been strong on defense, especially in stopping runners behind the line of scrimmage. The Blazers have 81 tackles for loss and have posted four or more in each game this season. UAB has 14 interceptions, including 10 in the last seven games, and have posted five multi-interception games. Redshirt senior cornerback Darious Williams has five interceptions and is second in FBS in passes defensed with 20 (1.7 per game). Redshirt senior linebacker Tevin Crews led the team with 95 tackles, and redshirt junior defensive lineman Stacy Keely led the Blazers with four sacks.
“We are honored to accept an invitation to play in this year’s Bahamas Bowl against such a great opponent as Ohio,” said UAB Director of Athletics Mark Ingram. “Our coaches and players have represented our university extremely well throughout the entire season, and this is a tremendous reward for their hard work. We look forward to playing another nationally televised game and watching this remarkable team cap off their season with one more game.”
Ohio (8-4 overall, 5-3 in Mid-American Conference play) will be led to its’ 11th all-time bowl appearance by head coach Frank Solich, who is in his 13th season (96-71 record) at Ohio and his 19th as a college head coach (154-90 record) overall. Solich, who also served as the head coach at Nebraska from 1998-2003, has taken the Bobcats to nine bowls, including in each of the last three seasons. He is the third-longest tenured coach in the FBS ranks.
“We are excited to accept an invitation for the 2017 Bahamas Bowl. It’s a location that our players, staff and fans are excited about,” said Solich. “We are looking forward to a great game against a talented UAB team.”
The Bobcats come into the Bahamas Bowl with four victories in the last six games as Ohio finished second in the MAC East Division. The Bobcats average 38.9 points per game and set a school record with 467 points scored, and Ohio has scored 40 or more points in six games. Ohio has averaged 244.2 rushing yards per game behind redshirt junior running back A.J. Ouellette (980 yards) and sophomore quarterback Nathan Rourke (882 yards). Rourke has five 100-yard rushing games, and Ouellette has four 100-yard efforts. Rourke holds the school record for rushing touchdowns in a season with 21 (second in FBS), and his 37 total touchdowns responsible for is one away from tying the Ohio season record. He also has thrown for 2,018 passing yards and 15 TDs.
On defense, the Bobcats have held opponents to 25.8 points per game. Ohio has been strong against the run as the Bobcats’ opponents have averaged only 111.4 yards per game. Redshirt senior linebacker Quentin Poling leads the team with 102 tackles, including 47 solo stops, 12.5 tackles for loss and three forced fumbles. He also leads the team with 5.5 sacks, part of the Bobcats’ 28 overall. Redshirt senior linebacker Chad Moore paces the Bobcats with three interceptions. Redshirt senior cornerback Bradd Ellis has 18 pass breakups, which ties the school record and ranks in the top three in FBS in the category.
“We are honored and excited about being invited to the Bahamas Bowl. It is a fantastic location and event for our team and fans,” said Ohio Director of Athletics Jim Schaus. “All of the past MAC schools who have attended rave about their experience.”
For more information on the 2017 Bahamas Bowl, visit BahamasBowl.com. The game is one of 14 postseason bowl games owned and operated by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN.
About The Bahamas Bowl
The Bahamas Bowl will provide student-athletes, conference partners, alumni, fans and sponsors a first-class international bowl experience while promoting The Bahamas and highlighting the educational and athletic opportunities for the youth of The Islands through college football. The fourth-annual Bahamas Bowl will take place in Nassau, Bahamas on Friday, Dec. 22, 2017 at Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium between teams from Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference. The game will be televised nationally in the United States on ESPN.
PM: Project delivers on promise and invests in youth, sports and national development
GRAND BAHAMA, The Bahamas — Calling it the fulfillment of a major commitment to the island, Prime Minister Philip Davis led the official groundbreaking for the Grand Bahama Aquatic Centre, a facility the government says will transform sports development and create new opportunities for young athletes.
Speaking at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex on February 12, the Prime Minister said the project represents more than bricks and mortar
— it is an investment in people, national pride and long-term economic activity. The planned complex will feature a modern 50-metre competition pool, designed to meet international standards for training and regional and global swim meets. Davis said the facility will give Bahamian swimmers a home capable of producing world-class performance while also providing a space for community recreation, learn-to-swim programmes and water safety training.
He noted that Grand Bahama has long produced outstanding athletes despite limited infrastructure and said the new centre is intended to correct that imbalance, positioning the island as a hub for aquatic sports and sports tourism.
The Prime Minister also linked the development to the broader national recovery and revitalisation of Grand Bahama, describing the project as part of a strategy to expand opportunities for young people, create jobs during construction and stimulate activity for small businesses once operational.
The Aquatic Centre, he said, stands as proof that promises made to Grand Bahama are being delivered.
The project is expected to support athlete development, attract competitions, and provide a safe, modern environment for residents to access swimming and water-based programmes for generations to come.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
The Bahamas, February 15, 2026 – For the better part of three years, Bahamians have been told that major Afreximbank financing would help transform access to capital, rebuild infrastructure and unlock economic growth across the islands. The headline figures are large. The signing ceremonies are high profile. The language is ambitious. What remains far harder to see is the measurable impact in the daily lives of the people those announcements are meant to serve.
The Government’s push to secure up to $100 million from Afreximbank for roughly 200 miles of Family Island roads dates back to 2025. In
its February 11 disclosure, the bank outlined a receivables-discounting facility — a structure that allows a contractor to be paid early once work is completed, certified and invoiced, with the Government settling the bill later. It is not cash placed into the economy upfront. It does not, by itself, build a single mile of road. Every dollar depends on work first being delivered and approved.
The wider framework has been described as support for “climate-resilient and trade-enhancing infrastructure,” a phrase that, in practical terms, should mean projects that lower the cost of doing business, move people and goods faster, and keep the economy functioning. But for communities, that promise becomes real only when the projects are named, the standards are defined and a clear timeline is given for when work will begin — and when it will be finished.
Bahamians have seen this moment before.
In 2023, a $30 million Afreximbank facility for the Bahamas Development Bank was hailed as a breakthrough that would expand access to financing for local enterprise. It worked in one immediate and measurable way: it encouraged businesses to apply. Established, revenue-generating Bahamian companies responded to the call, prepared plans, and entered a process they believed had been capitalised to support growth. The unanswered question is how much of that capital has reached the private sector in a form that allowed those businesses to expand, hire and generate new economic activity.
Because development is not measured in the size of announcements.
It is measured in loans disbursed, projects completed and businesses expanded.
The pattern is becoming difficult to ignore. In June 2024, when Afreximbank held its inaugural Caribbean Annual Meetings in Nassau,
Grand Bahama was presented as the future home of an Afro-Caribbean marketplace said to carry tens of millions of dollars in investment. What was confirmed at that stage was a $1.86 million project-preparation facility — funding for studies and planning to make the development bankable, not construction financing. The larger build-out remains dependent on additional approvals, land acquisition and further capital.
This distinction — between financing announced and financing that produces visible, measurable outcomes — is now at the centre of the national conversation.
Because while the numbers grow larger on paper, entrepreneurs still describe access to capital as out of reach, and communities across the Family Islands are still waiting to see where the work will start.
And in an economy where stalled growth translates into lost opportunity, rising frustration and real social consequences, the gap between promise and delivery is no longer a communications issue.
It is an inability to convert announcements into outcomes.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
A hardline strategy that reduced murders, gunfire, and collateral deaths
The Bahamas, February 8, 2026 – What happens when police stop routinely granting bail to high-risk suspects and aggressively execute outstanding warrants? In The Bahamas, the answer in 2025 was fewer murders, fewer gunshots, and safer communities.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force arrested 4,337 individuals on outstanding warrants last year, ensuring suspects were brought directly before the courts instead of being released back onto the streets. At the same time, police significantly curtailed the use of police bail for high-risk and repeat offenders, particularly those already entangled in violent disputes.
Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles said the shift was informed by hard lessons from previous years. Intelligence reviews showed that
many homicide victims were not random targets, but men already wanted by law enforcement and — critically — by other criminals. When released on bail, those individuals often became targets themselves, triggering retaliatory shootings that spilled into neighbourhoods, roadways and public spaces.
By keeping high-risk suspects in custody pending court appearances, police say they disrupted that cycle — removing both potential offenders and potential victims from the streets.
The impact was stark. Murders declined by 31 percent in 2025, falling from 120 in 2024 to 83, the largest percentage decrease in homicides since national tracking began in 1963 and the lowest murder count in nearly two decades.
Police leaders say the strategy also reduced the collateral damage that had increasingly alarmed communities. Innocent residents had been caught in “sprays of gunfire” as targeted attacks unfolded in residential areas, at traffic stops, and in public settings.
Gun-violence indicators reflected the change. Gunshot reports fell by 35 percent, while incidents detected by ShotSpotter technology declined by 29 percent, confirming that fewer shots were being fired across the country.
“Gunshots ringing out and cutting through our peaceful paradise were down remarkably,” Commissioner Knowles said, attributing the improvement to decisive enforcement, tighter bail practices, and sustained pressure on offenders.
Police also intensified enforcement against breach of bail conditions, charging and detaining more suspects than in any previous reporting period. Officers say the approach removed the opportunity for repeat offending while matters were before the courts.
Police leadership said the results go beyond statistics. By limiting bail for high-risk suspects and executing warrants at scale, the strategy saved lives, protected bystanders, and restored confidence in public safety.
In 2025, fewer people were hunted, fewer bullets were fired, and fewer families were left grieving — a shift police say was no accident, but the result of deliberate, hardline choices.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
