Getting MB sponsorship at Rs 12 crores is a steal in spite of crappy I-league coverage. Ask Etihad. Few years back, ArcelorMittal was interested. It is a different story that the club is managed by small timers who are clueless as to how to tap the market. Also they are too shaky to enforce reforms lest their grip loosens.
Problem is big corporates doesn't want to sponsor EB MB, they want to own them. For us its even scarier, one day we may suddenly become Heineken East Bengal and start playing in that godforsaken ISL.
Well, I think it's like the corporates want to know for sure that their money is well invested and it's giving them the desired mileage. That purpose is hampered in the way the clubs are run. money is siphoned off, ill-spent, marketing not done. So to safeguard their investments, they want to take control. If the club officials understand this and make the administration efficient and transparent, the show will run smoothly. But again, the club officials won't implement this as their vested interests would come in the way.
@deepakc Maidan is closed by Army. Hence MB is using their academy ground and facilities in Durgapur while East Bengal is practicing at Howrah Stadium.
Isnt it time both the giants got some sort of a training base on the city outskirts and develop the maidan for matches only with 10-15k seating and floodlights....wishful thinking but almost necessary if they have Asia ambitions....i am sure army can be brought around to the idea...
MB had an average attendance of 30K in last I-League, why would they want to play in a smaller capacity stadium. Same goes for EB. And Army doesn't come around easily, Indian army is the baap of medieval practices anyway regarding sports. The Big two can definitely play most I-League matches at home grounds though except Derby and AFC games. There is no dearth of training grounds in Kolkata.
The Crook-in Charge of MB, Anjan Mitra, a few years back, gave a good suggestion. He identified three locations: a patch of land on EM Bypass near RB Ave Connector, another in Kamarhati (next to the railway track), and a third one near the Second Hooghly Bridge neighbouring the military zone. He wanted stadiums to be built there by EB-MB combine or IFA or the State govt.
I should say a good idea, but not implemented because nobody was interested in spite of rhetorics by Mitra like "we should rise beyond club interests", "think beyond Maidan", etc.
Avg attendance doesn't reflect the attendance of all matches, median would be the right indicator....which i suspect is around 20k for non derby's.....for derby 110k increases the avg of the balance 8 batches by another 10 k....hence the MB ground is almost ideal i feel
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I should say a good idea, but not implemented because nobody was interested in spite of rhetorics by Mitra like "we should rise beyond club interests", "think beyond Maidan", etc.