Biggest impetus to have a combined league is the possibility of having such headlines after the stalemate between BFC and NEROCA:"Roca ne Neroca ko Roca"!
An idea has struck me: how about an NFL style conference system for the next five years? Season format: 1.Let ISL and I League co-exist as the joint highest division of Indian football. Let there be 10 teams each in ISL and I League. Let the regular season run for 4 months and then, the top 3 teams from each league participate in a 6 team mini-league titled 'Indian Championship' (or anything else). No ISL knockouts exist. 2.The winner of the I League and ISL gets acknowledged as ISL/I League champ while the winner of the 6 team league is the Indian Champion (qualification for ACL). 3. Let ISL remain a closed league, but for five years only. Till then, promotion-relegation operates between I League and I League 2. In the mean time, there should be no expansion of ISL. (If there is one, then I League should expand equally.) 4. Let the season begin in October for both leagues and games be held in the weekends with all teams playing each week. The leagues thus run for 18 weeks, or till about the end of February. After this, the Championship League can begin in the middle of March and can go on till the middle of May with matches being held in weekends. 5. Parallel to Championship (that is, from March to May), let there be a 16 team knockout competition featuring top 8 teams of each league facing each other in home and away ties. Let the games be held in the mid weeks. It can be called either the Super Cup or the Federation Cup and its winner can be awarded the AFC Cup spot. 6. The state leagues can be held from August to December with best teams earning I League 2 spots. Let all I League and ISL teams be required to participate (either full team or reserves) there. Financial and Other Arrangements: 1. Given that the ISL franchises are facing recurring losses, let the franchise fee for them be reduced to 5 cr. per annum. On the other hand, participation fee for the I League clubs can be gradually increased so that they approach that of ISL franchises within five years. A part of this can go to IMG-R for their loss of ISL revenue. 2. In exchange of the increased participation fee, I League clubs be granted better media promotion and better coverage of games in electronic media. The first thing should be that all games are televised with pre and post match coverage for at least the important games. Given that I League would still have promotion-relegation, their fees should remain lesser than ISL clubs as long as the ISL clubs are exempted from relegation and the Leagues aren't merged. 3. The matches can be played every week from Wednesday to Sunday with two games played on every Friday and three on Saturday and Sunday. For greater profits, the more popular teams should have their home matches scheduled in the weekend evenings. 4. The ISL franchises should be granted absolute freedom with respect to selection of players and support staff and rules similar to I League should be applicable. This can solve the financial issue and also prevent conflict of interest. (In fact, isn't it common sense that clubs should have the right to choose their players, isn't it?) After 5 years, when the contractual obligations like '1 city, 1 team' and 'no relegation' end, let the two Leagues be merged to have a 20 team League running from October to May and a parallel knockout club competition.
Comments
Season format:
1.Let ISL and I League co-exist as the joint highest division of Indian football. Let there be 10 teams each in ISL and I League. Let the regular season run for 4 months and then, the top 3 teams from each league participate in a 6 team mini-league titled 'Indian Championship' (or anything else). No ISL knockouts exist.
2.The winner of the I League and ISL gets acknowledged as ISL/I League champ while the winner of the 6 team league is the Indian Champion (qualification for ACL).
3. Let ISL remain a closed league, but for five years only. Till then, promotion-relegation operates between I League and I League 2. In the mean time, there should be no expansion of ISL. (If there is one, then I League should expand equally.)
4. Let the season begin in October for both leagues and games be held in the weekends with all teams playing each week. The leagues thus run for 18 weeks, or till about the end of February. After this, the Championship League can begin in the middle of March and can go on till the middle of May with matches being held in weekends.
5. Parallel to Championship (that is, from March to May), let there be a 16 team knockout competition featuring top 8 teams of each league facing each other in home and away ties. Let the games be held in the mid weeks. It can be called either the Super Cup or the Federation Cup and its winner can be awarded the AFC Cup spot.
6. The state leagues can be held from August to December with best teams earning I League 2 spots. Let all I League and ISL teams be required to participate (either full team or reserves) there.
Financial and Other Arrangements:
1. Given that the ISL franchises are facing recurring losses, let the franchise fee for them be reduced to 5 cr. per annum. On the other hand, participation fee for the I League clubs can be gradually increased so that they approach that of ISL franchises within five years. A part of this can go to IMG-R for their loss of ISL revenue.
2. In exchange of the increased participation fee, I League clubs be granted better media promotion and better coverage of games in electronic media. The first thing should be that all games are televised with pre and post match coverage for at least the important games. Given that I League would still have promotion-relegation, their fees should remain lesser than ISL clubs as long as the ISL clubs are exempted from relegation and the Leagues aren't merged.
3. The matches can be played every week from Wednesday to Sunday with two games played on every Friday and three on Saturday and Sunday. For greater profits, the more popular teams should have their home matches scheduled in the weekend evenings.
4. The ISL franchises should be granted absolute freedom with respect to selection of players and support staff and rules similar to I League should be applicable. This can solve the financial issue and also prevent conflict of interest. (In fact, isn't it common sense that clubs should have the right to choose their players, isn't it?)
After 5 years, when the contractual obligations like '1 city, 1 team' and 'no relegation' end, let the two Leagues be merged to have a 20 team League running from October to May and a parallel knockout club competition.