@Deb_Ban Thanks mate, means a lot and thanks for the honest feedback. I did not know that about Bachchan, however, that does make me wonder why the hell has he not been involved yet with Pune. You would think something would have been done by now.
For the stadium it probably would be the hardest. I am not sure how these things work in India but I know in the US city stadiums are hard to get and cost a lot of money to not only make but to also get permission from the city/district. Although I don't see what would be so expensive about a simple 8,000 seater. It is not as if I am asking them to make an Emirates and bidazzle the shit out of the stadium... just be simple because the chance of gaining a sponsorship... or a good sponsor deal... would be pretty low at first, specially when the place would only hold around 8,000 fans.
As for the fans I wholeheartedly agree 100% and that is why I recommended they base a stadium in the Deccan Gymkhana or Shivajinagar areas of Pune... the heartbeats of the area which are easily accessable for university students and also home to many other things for people to do.
The idea here is to make going to a Pune FC match more than just an I-League match but a sports event. You need to make the fans feel good and while most will just care for the football you will also have your core who will consider the other aspects like hospitality and how the games are conducted etc.
Again, they are the only professional sports team located in the area... take advantage of that.
Pune FC is not the problem, it is part of a solution. Any club wanting to go up can faithfully follow this model. I suspect PFC's problem is on the marketing front (paradoxically, the marketing team is doing very very good -- on Indian standard, of course). They did everything right but still could not bring the fans at the stadium -- distance of the stadium or performance of the club cannot be the only reasons. Another failure may be misunderstanding the sports culture (or lack of it), and failure to impose/ initiate a football culture -- which BFC did not fail.
But PFC has an intelligent and able management and they sure are going to analyze and dissect the success of BFC and find corrective measures. What would be interesting to find out the roadmap for success for an ordinary club like ND Heroes, Hindustan FC, United SC, Aizawl FC or the erstwhile Viva Kerala.
One reason may be that city of Pune do not have any history of Football. Cricket is very popular and Pune has produced Hockey players like Dhanraj Pillay and even Tennis players but Football is not popular. More local kids should pick up the sport. Other cities of Maharashtra like Kolhapur, Nagpur-Football is popular. In Mumbai, Football has a historical following but their reluctance to build Cooperage Stadium is finishing the sport there.
How many cities we have in next year I-League? Shillong 3 clubs, Calcutta 3 clubs, Goa 4 clubs, Pune 2 clubs, Bangalore 1 club. So, Pune is the only venue where we do not have even 500 tickets sold!!!!
Bangalore model is THE model to follow. Yes, Chandigarh is one place which can do with a football club. But rather than choosing cities randomly (you say Chandigarh, I say Nagpur), priority should be given in order to city sizes. Bigger the city, bigger is the market and less are the chances of failure. AIFF should have a pre-determined list of cities (in order of diminishing population sizes) and invite franchisees systematically.
Comments
Pune FC is not the problem, it is part of a solution. Any club wanting to go up can faithfully follow this model. I suspect PFC's problem is on the marketing front (paradoxically, the marketing team is doing very very good -- on Indian standard, of course). They did everything right but still could not bring the fans at the stadium -- distance of the stadium or performance of the club cannot be the only reasons. Another failure may be misunderstanding the sports culture (or lack of it), and failure to impose/ initiate a football culture -- which BFC did not fail.
But PFC has an intelligent and able management and they sure are going to analyze and dissect the success of BFC and find corrective measures. What would be interesting to find out the roadmap for success for an ordinary club like ND Heroes, Hindustan FC, United SC, Aizawl FC or the erstwhile Viva Kerala.
How many cities we have in next year I-League? Shillong 3 clubs, Calcutta 3 clubs, Goa 4 clubs, Pune 2 clubs, Bangalore 1 club. So, Pune is the only venue where we do not have even 500 tickets sold!!!!