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A Detailed Study on the Glamour and Money of ISL & I-League’s Fate

The fate of football in India has seen a new dawn holding the hands of the new tournament, The Indian Super League. Pretty much like the IPL injected glamour, cosmic amount of money and all the attention required, the ISL too did the same. It has certainly made football popular among the mass and this can be seen from the crowd that each match pulls. The I-League which was considered the biggest football tournament, is now seemingly losing ground to the new tournament. Here we bring you the latest football news and Indian football updates.

The Popularity and TV Rating

The television rating points are at an all-time high with the ISL and this has helped in getting big sponsors. That is eventually where the money comes from, thus giving Indian football, what it deserved for so many years. Now, there are certain key factors as to why, there is a surge in attention in the game. Many opine that the previous lackluster image of this game was mainly because, it wasn’t marketed well. Now with so many stars being a part of the game, football has started to pull crowds, like never before. Besides stars from Bollywood, the tournament has seen active participation of cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar, SouravGanguly, ViraatKohli and others. The ISL on its opening day pulled a whopping 74.7 million television audience. This is a great news for Indian football because such humongous TV viewership was only found during EPL and La Liga telecasts. [caption id="attachment_18" align="alignnone" width="300"] ISL 3 to begin from October 1. Image Source: file pic[/caption] In an interview to NDTV, AIFF secretary General, Kushal Das was quoted as saying “India's football captain, and undoubtedly Indian football's most recognized face in recent time, Sunil Chhetri is not playing in the ISL. That's because his club Bengaluru FC, the current I-league champions, didn't release their players for the ISL. Chhetri and his teammates would certainly not enjoy being left out of the ISL party. "A player like Sunil must be feeling sad that he can't play in the ISL, he would want to rub shoulders with top foreign players too, I'm sure. But in the future, there may be a situation where he and the others can also be a part of the ISL"

Star Cast Made a Huge Difference

One of the other key factors include, roping in international star footballers, who have made their mark in the world cup. The Indian crowd had only seen them on TVs, playing on foreign soil and now they would be playing in their home towns, right in front of their eyes. There have also been huge developments as clubs like Liverpool has shown keen interest in entering the Indian market with a Pune based academy. Similar moves were seen with Boca juniors who ventured in Bangalore. The famous Atletico Madrid co-owns the Kolkata ISL team (Atletico De Kolkata). Such foreign involvement in Indian football will certainly do a world of good to Indian football and strengthen its grassroots level. This would further encourage fresh talents to come up. All India Football Federation, President Mr. Praful Patel was interviewed on his thoughts about the tournament. He Said: “All players wanted the ISL. Players like (Bhaichung) Bhutia and (Sunil) Chhetri used to come and tell AIFF that we must support such initiatives. The players wanted it, fans loved the idea and we agreed. After one season, there are some issues which we have discussed with IMG-Reliance. Over a period of time, we must have just one league but there should be no doubt that the I-League is our principal tournament, no matter what anyone says or feels,” he explained. These involvements were missing with the I-League and it has only a limited base of fans and that is why it saw very limited turnaround of audience in the stadiums where matches were held. So, what would be the fate of this professional football league? Summary Authorities have already started brainstorming a way ahead from here. While ISL is doing exceptionally well in face-lifting the popularity of the game, the sustainability of the model is still not quite established.