Change in I-LEAGUE format!
AIFF-IMG planning to change I-LEAGUE format which can involves all the regions...I-LEAGUE could now be played in Major League Soccer (MLS) fashion....
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Comments
what do u think of d new format?
1) 10 team I-League with 2 teams in Goa, Kolkata, 3 in Maharashtra, 3 in the North-East. DONE
2) A 10 team 2nd Division with 1 Delhi team, 1 Kerala team, 1 Bangalore team, 1 Hyderabad team, 1 in Goa, 2 in Kolkata, 1 in Orissa, 1 in Jharkhand, 1 in Chennai
3) Promotion/Relegation should be 2 teams going up with no teams going down UNLESS they are in a bad financial situation in which case they would be sent to the 2nd Division. Promoted teams should be based on the top 2 teams in the 2nd Division AND if they are financially viable for the league. Can they survive.
4) Both leagues should be in a single-table format, Not split into East and West. We hate that here in America and either way all the I-League teams will play each other twice so whats the point of divisions. And Play-offs should never be discussed.
5) Now here is where I wanted MLS rules to be used... PLAYER ROSTERS! In I-League you should have a MAX 30 man roster. Only 4 foreigners, 15 youth players, and a salary cap of maybe $1,500,000.
6) Have all teams co-owned by the league so that finances are always in check and that transfers can be checked as well.
NOTE: Parts 5 and 6 are the reasons why in MLS they do EXPANSION and not pro/rel because if a team gets promoted they would then have to quickly release some players and sign a few players just to be within the Roster Rules and Salary Cap and also some promoted teams might not want to be co-owned by I-League.
That is what I want. Some things from MLS. What AIFF and IMG should do is look at the MLS format and redo it into something that can work in India. While I preach that MLS is the league to model I have also said that some aspects wont work and that an MLS model would have to be tweaked around in order to be good in India.
We dont need to follow the complete AFC Criteria. There is a reason why A-League still is one of the best leagues in Asia and top 25 in the world yet does not do relegation. Also MLS does not do relegation.
Stop trying to copy MLS , a few months ago it was J-League, what next ? and all this just coz the PLS guys opened your eyes and scared u with the what if......
You have high costs because you guys are incompetent !
Teams travel to Kolkata and Goa and play 1 match and then head back across the country, if you just made them play 2 matches each time in both venues , you could cut costs by over 50% !!
Get sponsors for the league that will benefit the costs , i.e Airline sponsors, hotel groups, etc not useless sponsors like Pailan and Panasonic and Nik who don't even provide any cash anymore !!
No relegation has its positives , if you force clubs to invest in youth development
I disagree and I agree with what you are saying. I disagree with the fact that we should not follow MLS. We should, just not 100% of what they are doing. Like East and West conferences. Right now the I-League clubs have said they want a J.League type league and the AIFF and IMG want an MLS type league. If they can combine both league formats together and use all the pros from both leagues then I think we will be fine.
Also relegation cant live in India. May I take us back to 2010: ONGC and HAL were promoted and Sporting Goa and Shillong Lajong were relegated. Clubs should be brought up by expansion. And also some people say that if we take away relegation that would take away the competitiveness. It would not, you need a draft for that in which every year in the summer each I-League club drafts the best players from the BC Roy Trophy. Now how would the draft order go? The first pick would go to the worst placed team and so on so there is some competitiveness there. Also you got the money given out at the end of the season and you need to please the crowd.
Also I think it is time the companies stop naming there clubs after themselves. For example, Air India should move to Nagpur and rename the club Nagpur United FC and rename the Yashwant Stadium to the Air India Stadium. Take the stadium names, not the team names. Instead of Dempo SC, rename the club Panjim Goans FC and make the stadium called the Dempo Stadium or something like that. Its makes money for the club and company and it gives the city/state a real team to resemble them.
Also going back to expansion. Another reason why its good is because instead of clubs worrying about the financial situation if they get relegated they can just worry about making more and more money and becoming more stable. Right now clubs like East Bengal and Mohun Bagan and Pune FC are rich clubs but wont last in MLS. Not because of the players but because these clubs dont have the money. MLS would throw them out before the season begins. So no promotion/relegation would make it less of a hassle and more easier to make and focus on money.
finally they are listening but their main motive is to reduce cost
yep. That will be tough. In the long term that will happen but for the first 2-3 years in a franchise league a lot of money would need to be sold. Clubs take time to get financially stable.
If the AIFF force the roster rules and salary cap and force a certain percent of the budgets to infrastructure and youth then we will be fine. Also work on marketing. One thing I would like to see on TEN Actions part is getting the big players from I-League like Odafe and Sunil and also get the up and coming youth like Jeje and Manandeep and put them in commercials. In America we got a commercial for Dicks Sporting Goods which has 3 of the best young players in MLS in it. If we can get something like that in I-League then I am sure more people will learn about the league and fans would come to the games.
Also this is separate but I hope the AIFF force the Kolkata clubs to have the supporters sit in the first tier and not 2nd. They are all in the 2nd Tier and we cant see them in the games on TV. Make the games look good. I hate watching games in Kolkata on my computer streamed to me and only seeing uncut grass and grey stands.