ISL: Sun Group to pull out; Chennai likely to replace Bangalore as eighth city franchise

The partnership between Sun Group and JSW wasn’t approved

Sun Group, owners of the Bangalore franchise of the Indian Super League, are set to pull out of the Indian Super League and Chennai is likely to replace Bangalore as the eighth franchise, Sportskeeda can reveal.

Due to differences with organisers IMG-Reliance and the fact that their partnership with Bengaluru FC owners JSW wasn’t approved, Sun Group won’t be a part of the ISL with an official announcement expected later today.

But the tournament would still have eight city franchises and Chennai is likely to be the base of the eighth franchise with a new owner, which will be revealed by IMG-R before the international draft on August 21st in Mumbai.

There were also venue concerns in Bangalore with the Kanteerava Stadium turf deemed unfit by pitch consultant Greg Gillin, a Wembley Stadium expert and Senior Director, National Stadium Singapore Sports Hub, and the venue was also available only on Sundays, meaning that Bangalore would be able to host games only on that day and thus get an unfair advantage in the fixture schedule.

IMG-R had booked nine stadiums instead of eight for the inaugural season of the ISL and now that backup venue, the Nehru Stadium in Chennai, is set to be the eighth host with IMG-R officials inspecting it on Wednesday.

It was also learnt that the 14 players that were selected by Sun Group and JSW for the Bangalore franchise during the domestic draft last month will be transferred to the newly-formed franchise from Chennai.