The National Surfing Team of Costa Rica made history earlier this year by bringing back the most gold medals from the World Surfing Games (WSG) in Nicaragua. Now the Surfing Federation of Costa Rica (Spanish acronym: FEDESURF) has an opportunity to host the next WSG in 2016, but there is no money to do so.

According to a recent news report filed by Jose Pablo Alfaro Rojas of national newspaper La Nacion, FEDESURF has about a week left to accept or reject the proposal from the International Surfing Association (ISA) to hold the WSG in Jaco Beach, one of the best spots for competitive surfing in the Latin America.

FEDESURF would have to show ISA that it can come up with a million dollars to host the WSG in Jaco Beach. Thus far, that does not seem to be the case. FEDESURF president Randall Chaves lamented the fact that when the National Surfing Team returned from Nicaragua with gold medals, legislators lined up to greet them and to have photos taken next to the champions; at that time, they promised that they would get the money needed, but that has not happened and the clock is ticking.

This is not the first time ISA has pitched the idea to hold the WSG in Jaco Beach. In 2014, FEDESURF rejected the offer for the same reason (lack of money), and thus the WSG were hosted in Nicaragua earlier this year.

The Minister of Youth, Culture and Athletics, Carolina Mauri, has been approaching officials and potential sponsors, but the money is not there. It is important to note that Costa Rica hosted the 2009 WSG in Jaco Beach, where local merchants welcomed more than 100,000 visitors for the event and made $1.5 million in just one week.

FEDESURF president Chaves has stated that the 2009 WSG were the most successful in terms of financial return, which is why ISA continues to offer them to Costa Rica.