AIFF's IPL-style Football league: How viable and sustainable is it?

Finally, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) wants to introduce the Walmarts and McDonalds in Indian football. The IPL-style event, for which AIFF had hijacked the idea from Celebrity Management Group (CMG) in 2012, hopes to generate interest in the domestic game. It’s a change of taste which is aimed at overhauling the existing moribund structure comprising the none-too-popular I-League and Federation Cup.

This sort of discarding the existing League in favour of the new, crispy IPL-format League will definitely attract fans. But how long will it last? When NFL was launched in 1996, there were talks that it would inject interest in Indian football. But in quick time, it ran out of steam and ideas. When I-League was introduced in 2007-08 season, the Federation promised yet another great event. Surprisingly, it also met with the same fate as NFL.

In fact, within a decade, none of these Leagues could keep anyone happy. Clubs grumbled, fans stopped coming to the stadiums and Federation just wondered what to do next.

The new League, which will be launched in January 2014, reminds me of Haldiram’s, a snacks food major. In fact, the company, which had its origin in Bikaner, Rajasthan, showed the great art of excellent packaging. No wonder Haldiram’s slowly became one of the popular snacks outlets in Calcutta, often obliterating the myriad street shops which once sold popular evening snacks like muri (puffed rice) and telebhaja (which effectively translates into “fried in oil”) and, Bengal’s delectable rasgullas.

The IMG-Reliance IPL-style football event is seen here as a neat ‘packaged’ stuff. But the I-League teams aren’t so convinced and have decided not to accept the change. They believe that it is a conflict of interest to have yet another League, and thereby feel alienated with AIFF’s new concept.

As Indian football braces itself for a big revolt, the question that may be asked as to why it took so long for the Federation to think about such a jamboree. Clubs are disillusioned and said that they will also put up a parallel League during the break. But we still don’t know if the IMG-Reliance event is all about a money-making exercise or if AIFF is really keen to create a marketing viability of the game.

Cricket’s IPL dazzled fans with its exciting T20 format, player auctions, post-game parties and heavy advertising and now football is poised for a similar makeover. Bringing David Beckhams and Rauls may light up the proceedings but nobody has yet explained the sustainability of this model.

Last year, CMG almost organised the tournament in Calcutta before AIFF sensed the huge “profit margin” from such a mega-event and hurriedly put a stop on CMG, just like what BCCI did with Zee’s Indian Cricket League (ICL) in 2006 before launching their own IPL in 2008.

CMG had Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler, Italy’s World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro and ex-Arsenal playmaker Robert Pires on their pay-rolls and the competition hoped to replicate the success of cricket. Some 30 players and six coaches from abroad were scheduled to be auctioned in the Calcutta for the proposed tournament.

Surprisingly, AIFF scored from a free-kick in the end and took away the game from CMG.

I’m not sure whether it is a progressive move, but Indian Professional Football Clubs Association (IPFCA) is likely to create more headaches for the Federation if they decide to host another event during the I-League break when the IMG-Reliance event will be held. Already, they have sounded out that they will not release any players for the franchise teams and also won’t welcome any players to play on loan for them. With top players like Syed Rahim Nabi, Gourmangi Singh, Subrata Paul and others having been already signed by IMG, it would create more uncertainty for the future of these players.