Don't worry mate. Star is opening a new channel dedicated to football only. League 1 will be on star and league 2 on regional channels. Both will be streamed. Bengali channels are reporting it wrong.
Population of Kolkata Metropolitan Area is 14 million plus - means 1 Crore 40 lakhs plus. Nowadays the population of cities is given in Metropolitan Areas or Urban agglomeration unit, not just city. The figure which you guys gave earlier of 50 lakhs just consisted of population under core Municipal region. Metropolitan Region or Urban agglomeration consider Suburbs, Cantonment Board areas also. To ease administration, Suburbs are governed by different municipalities but they all form part of same Urban Agglomeration.
Let us assume that AIFF & IMG-R both are having genuine interest of taking Indian Football to a different level. Agreed This can't be done overnight. This requires lots of money. That the game needs to be popularized throughout the Country. That to prevent AFC kicking our backs AIFF needed to draw blue print for moving forward. etc.etc.
But what prevented them to merge both ISL & I-League to have 16 teams ? Franchise teams could have remained immune to relegation for years after years. 2 teams out of 8 I-League teams could have been relegated every year....only to be replaced by 2 promoted teams from I-League 2. Football could have really been taken across all over the country. 30 match I-League or ISL (whatever name it is given) could have been played from September to May, along with Federation Cup with lottery based Draw and home & away knock-outs up to SF.
No......we have same Franchise teams playing amonst themselves year after year (till they wind up citing youth development bluff etc. etc.) with possible addition dictated by Money Power.
We will have a Super Cup in a complicarted format (since I think IMG-R is averse to the word "Federation") which will have 4 foriegners as compared to Super League with 6 (?) Foriegners. In the mean time India's Champion teams will also play ACL (?) or AFC Cup matches with 4 Foriegners.
What has been proposed or rather decided yesterday indicate that the AIFF & IMG-R only wanted to put the seal on ISL as the Official National Football League in India. They do not care about any other Club teams.......fine. But remember many other AIFF Visions...Missions which looked fantastic on paper.......never saw day light.
We talk about development.....but forget that we don't have a decent Football only Stadium in the Country which can accommodate 50-60k people and conform to International Standard. None of the Rich Franchises has their own stadium.....not even talked about their own stadium. Yes I-League clubs are poor......they always play at various places but why Franchise teams would also follow them & play at the same places ? They should have their own state of the art stadium with club coloured seats etc. etc. That would really look impressive. I wonder why they are not doing it..... are they more concerned about Mohun Bagan, EB, Dempo, Salgaocar, Sporting....... that unless they are convinced that those clubs have been killed for ever ...they don't want to spend ??
ISL clubs spend only on players' salaries, nothing more. No expenses on infra, grassroots, administrative structure. None of them have a club building, gym, swimming pool, office or any tangible investment; you expect them to build stadiums?
No I don't expect them to build a stadium.......they are businessmen......came to football to earn bucks as fast as they can. Why they would spend on stadium when they themselves know that this is a short term Capital Gain ?
What has happened is not merger, but takeover of Indian football by ISL, brutally sweeping away all existing -- though inefficient -- players. Yet they were inefficient only in terms of administration and cornering investment, but did well to get some fans into the stadium. What failed them is AIFF's lack of support, inefficiency and lack of vision.
I would have preferred a 12-team league -- six top from ISL (we know who wouldn't make the cut) and six most popular I-league clubs (in terms of stadium attendance). That would have been a merger. Why would Salgaocar, Lajong, SCG, Aizawl be thrown out after such performances? Ability to pay should not be the sole criteria. They should have been taken in and nurtured by AIFF through special programs.
Profool's assurance of I-league being top and ISL being just a tournament rings hollow. He has duped Indian football for some business.
I copied most of your analysis with few additions... But I do have same feeling even before reading your comment
Pros: 1) Lower division clubs will have some kind of revenue that was lacking in the current structure 2) There is a clearer route for national team, which is missing. The player now know they need to perform well in top-division to get selected. Also League one and two players can get attention by playing in Super Cup 3) Now even the franchise will feel the need for football development (youth and facilities) as they can't continue to run on adhoc basis year after year and loss a big chunk of money. 4) A very good exposure of lower division of football in terms of telecast. 5) A very good chance for franchises (top division team) to tie up with a lower division clubs (for example, NEUFC can tie up with AFC). Also if they have decent squad, top division reserves can play in lower division (tier 3) 6) Increase in pool of Indian players 7) ISL franchises need NOT worry about relegation. At-least for couple of years. Mean while they can build basic infrastructure and can have proper scouting network in place. 8) League spreading over 7 months. Clubs will have fair enough rest and time b/w League and AFC cup.. 9) AIFF will be initiating grassroots program only in states where there is no representation in league system ( all 3 tiers) 10) 4th tier by 2020. Road map is very good. Even if we can achieve half of this, it will be awesome. I never dreamed about 4th tier in India..
Cons: a) Addition of only two franchises which sums up-to 10 teams. It will not be fair for MB,EB,Salgaocar. And some extent to Shillong Lajong and SCG as well. Haven't included BFC as they are pretty much new to I-league.It's better if IMG-R can consider 12 teams in 2017 itself. We already played I-league with 14 teams. b) Apart from super cup, what motivation will 2nd division will have if there is no promotion to top division. Nothing wrong in considering finances as well for getting promotion. But at-least they need to give some time ( 1 to 2 years ) to gain financial strength and performance should be main criteria. c) Champions Cup during off season. Players will be busy from September to May and will be off for 1 or 1 1/2 month. Is 15 days camp will be enough for us to participate in Champions Cup ??Without gaining points and FIFA rankings, it's very difficult to get sponsors for league. Without National team performance, league can sustain only if we have bunch of passionate billionaire owners who doesn't bother losing money. d) If same 6+5 rule follows, clubs needs to invest a lot to get quality foreigners for 7-9 months. This may result in dip in quality of players year by year as clubs cannot bear loses in long run.
Comments
Population of Kolkata Metropolitan Area is 14 million plus - means 1 Crore 40 lakhs plus. Nowadays the population of cities is given in Metropolitan Areas or Urban agglomeration unit, not just city. The figure which you guys gave earlier of 50 lakhs just consisted of population under core Municipal region. Metropolitan Region or Urban agglomeration consider Suburbs, Cantonment Board areas also. To ease administration, Suburbs are governed by different municipalities but they all form part of same Urban Agglomeration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_million-plus_urban_agglomerations_in_India
If AIFF bother at all about them, they should take them in as they are, and together.
Agreed
This can't be done overnight.
This requires lots of money.
That the game needs to be popularized throughout the Country.
That to prevent AFC kicking our backs AIFF needed to draw blue print for moving forward. etc.etc.
But what prevented them to merge both ISL & I-League to have 16 teams ? Franchise teams could have remained immune to relegation for years after years. 2 teams out of 8 I-League teams could have been relegated every year....only to be replaced by 2 promoted teams from I-League 2. Football could have really been taken across all over the country. 30 match I-League or ISL (whatever name it is given) could have been played from September to May, along with Federation Cup with lottery based Draw and home & away knock-outs up to SF.
No......we have same Franchise teams playing amonst themselves year after year (till they wind up citing youth development bluff etc. etc.) with possible addition dictated by Money Power.
We will have a Super Cup in a complicarted format (since I think IMG-R is averse to the word "Federation") which will have 4 foriegners as compared to Super League with 6 (?) Foriegners.
In the mean time India's Champion teams will also play ACL (?) or AFC Cup matches with 4 Foriegners.
What has been proposed or rather decided yesterday indicate that the AIFF & IMG-R only wanted to put the seal on ISL as the Official National Football League in India. They do not care about any other Club teams.......fine. But remember many other AIFF Visions...Missions which looked fantastic on paper.......never saw day light.
We talk about development.....but forget that we don't have a decent Football only Stadium in the Country which can accommodate 50-60k people and conform to International Standard. None of the Rich Franchises has their own stadium.....not even talked about their own stadium. Yes I-League clubs are poor......they always play at various places but why Franchise teams would also follow them & play at the same places ? They should have their own state of the art stadium with club coloured seats etc. etc. That would really look impressive. I wonder why they are not doing it..... are they more concerned about Mohun Bagan, EB, Dempo, Salgaocar, Sporting....... that unless they are convinced that those clubs have been killed for ever ...they don't want to spend ??
I would have preferred a 12-team league -- six top from ISL (we know who wouldn't make the cut) and six most popular I-league clubs (in terms of stadium attendance). That would have been a merger. Why would Salgaocar, Lajong, SCG, Aizawl be thrown out after such performances? Ability to pay should not be the sole criteria. They should have been taken in and nurtured by AIFF through special programs.
Profool's assurance of I-league being top and ISL being just a tournament rings hollow. He has duped Indian football for some business.
I copied most of your analysis with few additions... But I do have same feeling even before reading your comment
Pros:
1) Lower division clubs will have some kind of revenue that was lacking in the current structure
2) There is a clearer route for national team, which is missing. The player now know they need to perform well in top-division to get selected. Also League one and two players can get attention by playing in Super Cup
3) Now even the franchise will feel the need for football development (youth and facilities) as they can't continue to run on adhoc basis year after year and loss a big chunk of money.
4) A very good exposure of lower division of football in terms of telecast.
5) A very good chance for franchises (top division team) to tie up with a lower division clubs (for example, NEUFC can tie up with AFC). Also if they have decent squad, top division reserves can play in lower division (tier 3)
6) Increase in pool of Indian players
7) ISL franchises need NOT worry about relegation. At-least for couple of years. Mean while they can build basic infrastructure and can have proper scouting network in place.
8) League spreading over 7 months. Clubs will have fair enough rest and time b/w League and AFC cup..
9) AIFF will be initiating grassroots program only in states where there is no representation in league system ( all 3 tiers)
10) 4th tier by 2020. Road map is very good. Even if we can achieve half of this, it will be awesome. I never dreamed about 4th tier in India..
Cons:
a) Addition of only two franchises which sums up-to 10 teams. It will not be fair for MB,EB,Salgaocar. And some extent to Shillong Lajong and SCG as well. Haven't included BFC as they are pretty much new to I-league.It's better if IMG-R can consider 12 teams in 2017 itself. We already played I-league with 14 teams.
b) Apart from super cup, what motivation will 2nd division will have if there is no promotion to top division. Nothing wrong in considering finances as well for getting promotion. But at-least they need to give some time ( 1 to 2 years ) to gain financial strength and performance should be main criteria.
c) Champions Cup during off season. Players will be busy from September to May and will be off for 1 or 1 1/2 month. Is 15 days camp will be enough for us to participate in Champions Cup ??Without gaining points and FIFA rankings, it's very difficult to get sponsors for league. Without National team performance, league can sustain only if we have bunch of passionate billionaire owners who doesn't bother losing money.
d) If same 6+5 rule follows, clubs needs to invest a lot to get quality foreigners for 7-9 months. This may result in dip in quality of players year by year as clubs cannot bear loses in long run.