I-league: Hype or real?

We live in an age of embellishment. It’s difficult to tell the difference between hype and substance. No matter how average your product may be, package it well, make it appealing to the masses rather than the classes and you’re sure to attract
attention.

Bhaswar Goswami, the managing director of the Celebrity Management Group (CMG), understands this notion pretty well. “In India, we like to see big stars. People are crazy about them. We will give them an opportunity to see them,” beams Goswami.

Goswami is talking about the Premier League Soccer (PLS), a tournament his company has conceptualised. PLS has all the ingredients of attracting crowds.

Robert Pires, Hernan Crespo, Fabio Cannavaro, Jay Jay Okocha, Robbie Fowler, names which would have created ripples on the field a decade ago, will be the star attractions. Never mind their age — even they will admit they are way below their best.

But even then, these men are still crowd pullers, at least in this part of the world. “How else could an average Indian get to see such players in their own backyard? It will be total entertainment,” argues Goswami.

The organisers have paid attention to the minutest of details in order to strike a connect with the football-crazy youngsters.
Hence, the name of the tournament has been carefully chosen: Premier League, referring to the most popular football tournament globally. And then, you have teams like Howrah Manchester. To add more weight to it, two of West Bengal’s most famous names — Baichung Bhutia and Sourav Ganguly — have been roped in as brand ambassadors. No wonder the organisers are confident that their tournament will rival the IPL (which will clash with the PLS) in terms of popularity.

To add to their delight, the global media too has joined the bandwagon. But the curiosity abroad is of a different kind. An Australian newspaper thought these ‘veteran stars are helping India launch a football league’. That it is believed abroad that India does not have a professional football league comes as no surprise. Even within the country, very few are aware of the brand I-League. In two months, CMG along with the Indian Football Association (IFA, West Bengal’s governing body) have done to their league what the All India Football Association (AIFF) hasn’t managed in more than a decade — make the domestic league a household name.

It isn’t surprising, then, that the clubs and the AIFF are feeling uneasy, even though they won’t admit as much. Insiders say the AIFF is ‘expecting’ the league to fizzle out after a year or two. They have their reasons to believe so. Only after the initial euphoria over the participation of the former World Cuppers settles will the real challenge emerge for the organisers. Apart from the icon players, the rest are rather unknown quantities.

The absence of the Indian players from the league is also a deterrent. “Their basic model looks pretty good. It has given the franchises a lot of power and also they get financial benefits from the various commercial rights. But there are some loopholes as well. For instance, the duration of the league. It doesn’t make sense if the tournament is going to last only for two months and your players rest for the remainder of the year. You have to have a league that runs for a good eight months,” a club official says.

However, contradictory to the AIFF’s expectations, if the PLS does become a success, then its immediate impact will be on the I-League. That’s what concerns the clubs. The PLS has sold its broadcast rights to London-based firm MP & Sylvia, who expect the matches to be telecast live in at least 50 countries, according to Goswami.

The telecast partner in India is yet to be finalised. The AIFF, whose commercial rights are with IMG-Reliance, struggled to find a broadcast partner until they struck a deal with Ten Action.

CMG and IFA expect television revenue of nearly Rs35 crore in the first year, a percentage of which will be distributed to the five franchises.

Chirag Tanna, head of operations for Pune FC, regarded as the most professionally run I-League club, is of the opinion that if efforts are put in to improve the national league, PLS won’t be a threat. “We have to improve our league, irrespective of what PLS does. If that is done, I think the national league will remain unharmed,” Tanna believes.

The question, then, is why can’t the AIFF have such a league of their own? The federation, over the years, has built a reputation of being reactive rather than proactive.

When Kushal Das took over as the general secretary in 2010, he appointed Sunando Dhar as the I-League’s first-ever CEO and struck a commercial rights deal with IMG-Reliance.

Much was expected of them but their passive way of functioning has disappointed many. Even the clubs have demanded that they have a league in which the big international names
 participate.

“We have plans for such a league. But our priorities are different at the moment. Right now, our focus is to improve the grassroots,” Das says.

Das’s point, if taken on face value, does sound promising. But till AIFF converts their plans into actions, very few will buy this argument. Until then, the hero-worshipping Indian fans will have to make do with Goswami’s version of entertainment.