Club Relocation
Arsenalkid700
7 Points
Right now we know that in a few years (maybe months) some I-League clubs will have to relocated. Maybe because of lack of fans in there current place, to many teams in one city, or the fact they think more money is available elsewhere. Basically this subject will be a major one and for now it might be good to just give our predictions/suggestions for where a specific club should relocate to and why and how it is viable.
FIrst Team: Prayag United SC
Prayag is a good traditional club founded around the same time as East Bengal but today East Bengal is miles ahead of Prayag when it comes to crowd attendance then Prayag. Prayag is lucky to find 5,000 to 10,000 people in the seats at the Salt Lake Stadium. They need to relocate because if the I-League moved into a franchise type league where money determines your place in the league then they would be fucked. No attendance = no money, no money = no Salt Lake Stadium and no = Salt Lake Stadium means no AFC Certified Stadium. They would be doomed, poor and stadiumless. Kolkata is a city that belongs to East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. It cant fully support a third city.
Now there are rumors of Prayag relocating to Siliguri just north of West Bengal but honestly what would that do. They also would have the PLS to fight against which would probably lead to an attendance battle and Prayag could possibly end up in the same situation it was when they were in Kolkata, just not as bad.
I prefer a move to Uttar Pradesh, more specifically I prefer a move to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. They have the population, the fans, the facilities, and if Prayag manages to do well it wont be hard to negotiate a new deal with the Uttar Pradesh government about a new Football-Specific Stadium which is a stadium which is ONLY for football (and maybe Rugby). Also in the future Lucknow is expected to get a new athletic stadium which Prayag could use and maybe that new stadium could actually have bucket seats.
Of course though for all this to happen Prayag would have to be smart a focus on marketing and sponsorship and try intergating themselves into the Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh people. Concidering they would be Uttar Pradesh's ONLY professional club, it wont be that hard but it wont be easy to. All this can be done and they should do it. This would also help the AIFF and IMG sense they both want the spread the I-League around India and having a team in Uttar Pradesh would really boost the goal up.
FIrst Team: Prayag United SC
Prayag is a good traditional club founded around the same time as East Bengal but today East Bengal is miles ahead of Prayag when it comes to crowd attendance then Prayag. Prayag is lucky to find 5,000 to 10,000 people in the seats at the Salt Lake Stadium. They need to relocate because if the I-League moved into a franchise type league where money determines your place in the league then they would be fucked. No attendance = no money, no money = no Salt Lake Stadium and no = Salt Lake Stadium means no AFC Certified Stadium. They would be doomed, poor and stadiumless. Kolkata is a city that belongs to East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. It cant fully support a third city.
Now there are rumors of Prayag relocating to Siliguri just north of West Bengal but honestly what would that do. They also would have the PLS to fight against which would probably lead to an attendance battle and Prayag could possibly end up in the same situation it was when they were in Kolkata, just not as bad.
I prefer a move to Uttar Pradesh, more specifically I prefer a move to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. They have the population, the fans, the facilities, and if Prayag manages to do well it wont be hard to negotiate a new deal with the Uttar Pradesh government about a new Football-Specific Stadium which is a stadium which is ONLY for football (and maybe Rugby). Also in the future Lucknow is expected to get a new athletic stadium which Prayag could use and maybe that new stadium could actually have bucket seats.
Of course though for all this to happen Prayag would have to be smart a focus on marketing and sponsorship and try intergating themselves into the Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh people. Concidering they would be Uttar Pradesh's ONLY professional club, it wont be that hard but it wont be easy to. All this can be done and they should do it. This would also help the AIFF and IMG sense they both want the spread the I-League around India and having a team in Uttar Pradesh would really boost the goal up.
Comments
Thing is though someone on here told me that the owners (the non-prayag owners) want to keep the club in Bengal or maybe near Bengal and really Lucknow is the only place that seems to fulfill that wish. Its not that far from Bengal and it is far enough from MB and EB to gain support.
I think that maybe a Goan club will move to Bangalore soon but that will take a longer concidering all the Goan owners are to in love with Goa. I think in the end Dempo and Sporting Goa will be the ones who stay in Goa and Salgaocar will move to Bangalore.
When you read into Lucknow you can guess that just a little marketing and community involvement can get you tons of fans. Plus like I said the Prayag owners want to stay up North. Bangalore is a great destination but it will have to wait sadly.
<!-- s:bow-plusone: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/bow/plusone.gif" alt=":bow-plusone:" title="PlusOne" /><!-- s:bow-plusone: --> So true but I think we should be done putting teams in NE. The NE should only have 3 teams out of 14 because of there size (United Sikkim FC, Royal Wahingdoh FC, and Shillong Lajong FC). The AIFF and IMG should now be looking to move some current I-League clubs to more viable and financially good areas North and South of India. For example, try negotiating with Prayag United SC to move out of Kolkata because money is going to be hard to find as long as Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are there and move them North like Lucknow. Also try moving Pailan Arrows to either New Delhi or Jaipur or somewhere like that which can be viable for a football team. Also try moving 2 of the Goan clubs out of Goa because Goa is just (in my opinion) to small in land size to contain 4 of the 14 I-League clubs. 4 teams in that small land can work in England but not in giant India. Try moving them to Bangalore or Nagpur or somewhere South. Same with Air India as in my opinion Mumbai can only contain 1 team. Stadium is not going to be that big and support will take time to develop.
there is craze for football here in lucknow. a professional club can be useful to utilize talent which goes to waste due to lack of opportunities. local club can get a sizable support due to big population of the state.
<!-- s:bow-plusone: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/bow/plusone.gif" alt=":bow-plusone:" title="PlusOne" /><!-- s:bow-plusone: --> Not just in Lucknow but all over Uttar Pradesh there is talent that is so raw and can be turned into skill. Sadly that raw ability is wasted when the players give the game up. Plus every time I see a video of a person of youtube showing there skills out they are always from Uttar Pradesh. It is a place with talent.
Well... tell them good luck with that. I predict Prayag United SC folding in a 5 years then.
They need to move to a viable place. Can West Bengal really contain 4 teams. NO! I really hope they are also considering Uttar Pradesh or Orissa.