AIFF's 20-year league plan — Rs 70-cr annual budget, promotion and relegation

AIFF's 20-year league plan — Rs 70-cr annual budget, promotion and relegation (Source: ISL)

On the face of it, the plan appears a little ambitious, especially at a time when Indian football seemingly has lost credibility. The City Football Group (CFG) leaving its stake in the Mumbai FC ownership was the latest blow. “Mumbai City FC can confirm that City Football Group Limited (CFG) has divested its shareholding in the Club. The founding owners will assume full control of the organisation moving forward,” the club said in a statement on Friday.

On the same day, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) presented a 20-year plan to the Indian Super League (ISL) clubs, mentioning that it would operate the country’s top-tier from June to May cycle, with promotion and relegation. There would be a central revenue pool and the half of it would be shared equally among the participating clubs in the ISL.

Earlier, the club had presented a blueprint to resume the ISL, which was rejected by the game's governing body. The AIFF’s proposal has been taken positively by the clubs. “What they have proposed is something the clubs will now discuss internally. Following that, we will get back to the AIFF to fine tune the proposal. There will be a lot of discussions, but prima-facie this lays solid foundation to build something concrete,” Mandar Tamhane, the chief executive of NorthEast United, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

So far so good. But the point is that where would the money come from? Rs 70 crore has been earmarked as the operational budget of the refurbished ISL for the first season. The federation has proposed that it would keep 10 per cent of the total revenue, four per cent down from the proposal put forward by the Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) to renew the deal. As per the AIFF's proposal, every club would pay a “standard participation fee” of Rs 1 crore annually.

The big question, however, is that, does Indian football have any takers? What about the overhead costs, player salary caps, investment security and broadcast partners?

The ISL's future continues to hang in the balance. But at least there's some positive development.