Does the I-League have a real future?

I ask here a very controversial question, but I personally feel it needs to be asked. The way things are moving ahead within Indian football and the way the I-League has developed, or rather stagnated, and somewhat moved backwards since its big launch in November 2007, it is a matter of concern and worry.

And let’s be blunt and honest, the I-League in its current form and envisaged format has no future. Many things need to be done to rejuvenate the I-League as television coverage, marketing and general appeal of the league are a death threat to its very existence.

And, sadly, all the above can be said about the current scenario of the I-League even before making any connection to the proposed IMG-Reliance IPL-style football tournament.

But who is to blame?

First of all, the All India Football Federation, the I-League management and their marketing partners – former partners Zee Group and current one’s IMG-Reliance – haven’t been able to make the I-League a professional league as envisaged by FIFA and the AFC. On their recommendation, the old National Football League was rechristened to I-League.

Sadly, the I-League has never taken off as hoped and then in 2008, cricket’s own Indian Premier League came around, which has hurt the I-League as well. Suddenly, when they talk about leagues in India, it was about franchise-based six to eight week leagues.

For quite a while, the I-League has had no title sponsor and every season the television coverage has been getting less and less, while the standard of coverage has also been deteriorating because the host broadcaster, Ten Sports/Ten Action, wasn’t willing to invest into marketing the I-League or producing pre and post-match shows around the I-League, like the channels do for their international football coverage, simply because it was a cost to the channel which they can’t recoup.

Then there is the infrastructure which the federations/associations and clubs mostly don’t own, so we often see afternoon kick-offs due to lack of floodlights, high costs of power for the floodlights, empty stadiums, slow football due to the afternoon, etc. All these problems are interlinked.

Now the AIFF has come-up with the idea of holding the I-League as per the MLS conference model with two zones – East and West- which, as they say, would save money in spiralling travel costs. But here I agree with the club that that model isn’t in any way a way forward for the I-League.

But the issue raises another question – travel costs. Where in the world does the federation subsidize and pay for the travel of clubs?

The I-League is costing the AIFF around 15 crores per annum with about 8 crores spent on travel alone. One way could be that the travel allowance is scrapped by the AIFF, but the same amount is used as part of the prize money for all participating clubs, which I feel is also needed. So all clubs need to be given incentives and not only the top six.

Finances are a big problem for the AIFF with no sponsor showing any real interest to come forward and sponsor the I-League for the many above mentioned reasons. The league’s television rights are sold at such a low price that even if the AIFF starts sharing the money with the clubs, they would only get a few lakhs and not really enhance their budgets.

So the harsh reality is that the AIFF is running the I-League from the marketing money it receives from IMG-Reliance without which it couldn’t run the I-League, or factually, Indian football at all.

And then there are the I-League clubs, who use the easy route of the blame game. Surely they have numerous reasons for not being happy with the AIFF and I-League management, but having formed a body in the I-League Professional Football Clubs Association (IPFCA), why aren’t they more proactive when it comes to the I-League? Isn’t that also in their own interest?

Surely they are active to avoid the conference model and that’s a good step, but what about ways of reducing costs or bringing in sponsorship, if the federation and their marketing partners aren’t able to do so?

The I-League is at a difficult stage, especially with the induction of two new teams which means expansion of the I-League even though currently the costs are too high with no extra revenue to be generated.

To me, all this doesn’t sound good at all and as a product, the I-League is now a damaged good. Maybe a restart of the NFL under a third name could be the answer then, the I-League as such isn’t working as envisaged.

So does the I-League have a real future?