New Delhi: The All India Football Federation is exploring the idea of launching a new league after receiving a proposal for a no-cash deal during negotiations over the renewal of an existing 15-year deal with its marketing partners.
The plan is believed to have been hatched in a rather hush-hush manner and the AIFF executive committee is yet to be taken into confidence.
In two meetings over February and March, Reliance-owned Football Sports Development Limited tabled a proposal to form a new entity involving them, the AIFF, and ISL clubs to run the top-tier competition.
The profits of this entity would be distributed as per a pre-agreed ratio. Since 2014, the company has claimed a loss of Rs 5000 crore.
The AIFF was pegged to have a share of 14 per cent in the new arrangement with the rest divided between FSDL and the clubs, with the ISL again becoming a ‘closed league’ with no promotion and relegation after agreeing to it in 2019 as per an Asian Football Confederation roadmap.
The existing master rights agreement ends in December with FSDL having a right-to-refuse clause in the last six months of the contract, having paid Rs 50 crore per year on an average since 2010.
Upon receiving such a ‘dry’ proposal, the AIFF conducted a closed door meeting in Kolkata on March 9 that select top officials attended, where the idea of a new plan was floated for the first time.
Minimum 16 teams
In this new competition, a minimum of 16 teams, which can be expanded to 18-20 teams, including at least 10 ISL clubs and at least six I-League sides would participate.
According to the plan, each team would be asked to pay a Rs 4 crore ‘franchise fee’ or ‘participation fee’, to make a minimum of Rs 64-crore money pool (16×4 crore), multiple sources, who wanted to remain anonymous, revealed to News9 Sports.
Rs 30 crore of this pool would be with the AIFF or the entity that would run the league, with Rs 20 crore earmarked for production and broadcasting of matches and the remaining Rs 14 crore (of Rs 64 crore) could be used for operational costs.
The AIFF would hold a 20 per cent share in the new league while the rest 80 per cent would be with the clubs.
The ISL began in 2014 with eight founding franchises agreeing to pay around Rs 15 crore ‘franchise fee’ for a period of 10 years.
Promotion began in 2023-24 with Punjab FC becoming the first I-League champions to move up, followed by Mohammedan Sporting in the ongoing 2024-25 season.
The ‘participation fee’ to play in the I-League for the current season is Rs 7 lakh, which several clubs are yet to pay.
The AIFF spends around Rs 17 to 18 crore to organise the I-League while FSDL spends hundreds of crores for each season of the ISL.
It is not immediately clear which teams the AIFF has in mind while thinking of the new league.
This idea, which has emerged as a ‘plan B’, has been shared with the federation’s top officials, though official discussions among executive committee members and subsequently with its 36-state member associations are yet to be held.
It is likely to be placed before the next executive committee meeting that is expected to be held in April. In the meantime, top AIFF officials could meet informally in Shillong on the sidelines of India’s AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Bangladesh on March 25 to discuss the matter.
Any major decision such as this has to be approved by the executive committee of the AIFF, whose new constitution is up for review in the Supreme Court with hearings scheduled on March 25 and March 26.
AIFF secretary general Anilkumar Prabhakaran didn’t respond to calls when News9 Sports attempted to get in touch with him.
The AIFF is exploring the idea of a new competition after receiving a no-cash deal from its marketing partners, who own and run the ISL. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
