After proposing two possible formats for the next season, AIFF has now come up with a more detailed plan that was shared with clubs in a meeting on Friday. Here we take a look at what all the latest plan entails.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Friday came up with a new proposal for the Indian Super League (ISL) with clubs finally getting a glimmer of hope with regards to the start of the new season.
Reports suggest the new season could start as early as February with the Times of India reporting February 7 as a possible opening day for a shortened season.
ISL’s new season was supposed to start in September but is yet to see the light of the day as the 10-year contract of Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) came to an end this year and the league has been left without a commercial partner.
After
proposing two possible formats for the next season, AIFF has now come up with a
more detailed plan that was shared with clubs in a meeting on Friday. Here we take a look at what all the latest plan entails.
Ownership
After an earlier
club-led plan for perpetual ownership of the league was discarded, AIFF has now proposed that the league will be owned and operated by the federation. This goes in line with the new constitution of the federation that was approved by the Supreme Court. The governance of the league will be overseen by a board that would be empowered by the AIFF with some autonomy over commercial matters.
Finances
As per the proposal, each club that will feature in the league will have to pay Rs 1 crore a year at the beginning of the season as ‘standard participating fee’. This amount will be fully reimbursable from central revenues.
The total participation fee for all clubs would be put at 20% of the ‘central operational budget’ which has been pegged at Rs 70 crore for the upcoming season.
Any profit, or savings from the operational budget, will be distributed equally amongst all revenue shareholders in proportion to the respective revenue shares.
According to a report in the Times of India, the participating clubs will be majority shareholders at 50%, contributing Rs 35 crore to the general revenue pool, while the commercial partner can take up 21% share for Rs 21 crore. The AIFF has a 10% stake for a contribution of Rs 7 crore while the other 10% share is earmarked for club allocation for ‘fixed revenue share’.
Vision
The proposal that has been shared with the stakeholders is a 20-season plan. The plan says a season will run from June 1 to May 31 of the next year. The league will also have a promotion and relegation system from the upcoming season. Relegated team will have to give up their participation share to the promoted team, as per the Times of India.
PTI expects that the AIFF and the clubs will have two more rounds of meetings – one on Sunday and the other on Monday where further details will be discussed.
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