The gates matter to the club/franchise. STAR couldn't give two shits about it as long as their coverage gets the eyeballs. I interned there, the numbers the ad-sales guys were quoting for the semi finals & finals were IPL esque. And the ratings that came out subsequently justified those rates.
For all that fight i have an answer ISL has happened for good it brought more interest in football majorly Indian football...believe me i was an avid football watcher in early 2000's(EPL) even though our whole family world was full of Cricket madness..but then didn't wanted to know where India stands in football. ISL brought that zeal to watch and digest football again...
After ISL i came to know Bengaluru FC!! and then they were champions of League(No News hype in our vernacular press) and about I League...now i m following football lk hell and now IFN. So there are good changes from ISL though there is danger of ISL becoming mucky IPL...thats differ
ent matter.
SM: It may have sounded like late TV channel ad's....
So, thought I would put this here. Among all the debate over what is better for Indian football short and long term... ISL or I-League... we all do what we do. For me, it was just simply follow sports overall as I have no life outside of my laptop and every time I read an article about the Indian Premier League I always read that it is the "BCCI's tournament" and that the rules were made by the "BCCI".
Meanwhile, when it comes to the Indian Super League, it is never the "AIFF's tournament" but "IMG-Reliance's tournament" (with STAR Sports). IMG-Reliance and STAR Sports are the organizers in the ISL operators, Football Sports Development Ltd and the AIFF are nowhere to be seen.
I know we have all wanted a separate I-League from the AIFF. The Premier League is separate from the FA in England but there is at least a lot of close-relationship between the two... I don't see that with the ISL and AIFF.
Also, the Premier League is its own company. It has FA-board members on its board (as well as from the Football League as far as I believe) but is the ISL the same? Football Sports Development Ltd is the real organizer of the league but it is ran by IMG-Reliance.
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