Exclusive: What’s inside the IMG-R contract draft sent to the Kolkata Giants?

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IMG-Reliance officially sends the proposal draft to Kolkata Giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan for the proposed merger of the ISL and I-League. Image Source: XtraTime

Kolkata: After all the speculations, IMG-Reliance officially sends the proposal draft to Kolkata Giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan for the proposed merger of the ISL and I-League. It is learnt that, the condition draft they have sent to the Kolkata Giants. It is said If East Bengal and Mohun Bagan decide to play the ISL, the two clubs have to sacrifice their entire intellectual property to the promoters like the club name, logo, jersey, club merchandise and the others for the next thirty years. In return, the promoters will invest the money and the clubs will get only the 10% of the profit for the entire season from the promoting sponsors.

Previously when the UB Group used to sponsor East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, they formed companies named “United East Bengal Pvt Ltd” and “United Mohun Bagan Pvt Ltd”, where the clubs and the sponsors used to have equal number of members in the Board of Directors and both the parties used to share 50% of the stake. IMG-R’s new proposal will see no representatives from the clubs and it will be the promoting sponsors who will have the entire authority for the next thirty years. Mohun Bagan President Sawapan Sadhan Bose too mentioned that today, that they are reverting the issue, as he said, “We won’t play the league if it hurts the pride and rights of the club.”

On the other hand East Bengal official Shantiranjan Dasgupta said,”They have given such conditions doesn’t mean we have to grab it. We will decide what we want to do. We will sit and discuss our plans.”

Earlier, both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan were trying to put psychological pressure on the IMG-R by saying that the popularity of the ISL can only be revived if they welcome them to play into the new league. The “pressure game” got stronger from their end after the third edition of the ISL. The two clubs started to give their own conditions as well. But today, the IMG-R has made it very clear that they have their own conditions as well.

Now it is to see in which direction the situation moves. The mind games of the issue has certainly made the issue much more interesting.