Bringing this thread back, I think it is important to talk about the I-League and Indian football overall and how it is presented. I just saw the official FIFA World Cup ad from SONY SIX (which can be seen here) and just re-watched the TEN Action I-League 2013-14 promo (which can be seen here) and I am so surprised at how much difference there is in how football is advertised and broadcasted in India. Obviously European football and Internationals will be given better dues, that is way to obvious and very well done but compared to the I-League we are looked at as nothing, shite.
We all saw it this season with how the league was broadcasted. No HD coverage at all, no pre- or post- game shows, horrendous commentators, no advertisment at all, nothing to get the average fan excited, nothing promoting the league and so on. TEN Action can be appreciated for coming in when no one else would but I think it is time we start to stick up for ourselves and say that we deserve better than this rubbish.
SONY Six is a channel that is trying to look towards the younger generation and at the same time promote other niche sports like football and basketball. They recently payed Rs 530-540 crore for the rights of the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cups as well as the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017 taking place in India (Unconfirmed but sourced). They are willing to pay a lot for a sports rights as seen here and so I expect they will also put money into making them look good.
However, while the dream would be to get a deal with them that can never happen as I-League is not considered a good product and the financial system this league has would probably be detrimental to SONY SIX than positive. The best we can hope for right now is that the AIFF wakes up and focuses on branding and image.
Everyone says that all we need to do is increase player coverage and fans will come. That is no true. We also need to focus on branding and image... what we look like... or people will still not watch and will turn to Europe for their football. Indian football needs to find its "image" and until the AIFF does that I don't see much in the future. This is vital to the future success of Indian football.
Why be happy with TEN Action when they treat us like rubbish? Is that the image/message you want to send to the little kid watching in West Bengal or Goa?
when did i said that?? no , my complaint was that quality shud improve but i never supported ditching ten action bcoz we all know that ten action is the only available option...and that too partly not literally...
Well ya, I don't think anyone then said to get rid of them but we did complain about them and how bad their production was/is. And should we just deal with it?
I rather the I-League not even be broadcasted than have it shown in such horrendous quality. It just does not look good. I would rather we give the rights to the clubs to produce the video for their games and post them on youtube because so far the two clubs who seem to do it on a regular basis like Bengaluru FC and Pune are doing a fantastic job (or Pune was) in showing their games while TEN Action continues to treat us like garbage.
I just want there to be a push for better quality. We are doing that for youth football so why not for the broadcasting because that matters a lot to.
if they show only on youtube...everyone will not switch to internet to watch i-lig....when it is shown in ten action majority of guys want to watch it on tv even though quality is bad...if they don't like then switch the channel....
Comments
It's not spred out
Many die hard European football fans here in Tamilnadu don't know what is i-league
U should be happy with Ten Action
when did i said that?? no , my complaint was that quality shud improve but i never supported ditching ten action bcoz we all know that ten action is the only available option...and that too partly not literally...
GOTCHA