Premier League Soccer: Is The AIFF Trying To Kill PLS A La BCCI ?
- February 3, 2012
- Sports News
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The initial success and hoopla over the Premier League Soccer has gotten the AIFF into feeling itself on the edge. The news has been received that the AIFF secretary Mr. Kushal Das has shot a letter to the AIFF raising some issues over PLS. This might be a danger signal for PLS even before its kick-off. Or would it?
The IFA and CMG are jointly organizing the world’s 1st ever franchisee based league where the players, coaches and the franchisee has been auctioned off. An excess of Rs 135 crore ($27.2 million) has already been splashed by the parties involved with another round of auction still to go. Even the broadcast and sponsorship rights are expected to fetch approximately Rs 30-35 crore. This kind of money-spinning has been unheard of in Indian football. For example, the budget of HAL, an I-League team, is less than3.5 crore!
All of this seems not to be going down well with the AIFF and its partner IMG-Reliance. It is to be noted that IMG-R, in its deal with AIFF worth Rs 700 crore, had a clause which would enable them float a new league scrapping I-league. This league would also be franchisee based but pan-Indian. Now that the PLS has already come up with a similar league, albeit intra-state, which has attracted mainstream media attention worldwide, an uneasiness in the AIFF camp is palpable.
In the letter to the IFA, Mr. Kushal Das has accused them of letting the PLS be a privately owned CMG event rather than an IFA event. He has even insisted on adding the term ‘Bengal’ before PLS to make it loud and clear that the tournament is a regional one and not a national thing. It is to be noted that the perception in the majority of international media is that it is a new version of I-league with complete overhaul.
Now the question arises, will the AIFF go all-out in killing the PLS to make way for IMG-Reliance like the BCCI killed ICL? Well, there is no such immediate threat. And as long as the PLS remains confined to a 2 month schedule and West Bengal boundaries, it can live happily. But the CMG have given a strong hint that they would venture in other states and if the sources are to be believed, they are already in talks with some state FAs. This would be a cause of concern. In that case, the IMG would surely want its path to be cleared for the smooth sail of its own league.
But can the AIFF kill PLS? This is a bigger question. The answer is, it would be extremely difficult. The Bengal is called the Mecca of Indian football and rightly so. The fan frenzy for even a local football team is to be seen to believe. In the smaller towns like Howrah, Siliguri, Barasat etc, it is even more popular. So the PLS teams are going to command great following and loyalty. The major tool that BCCI used to strangle ICL was throwing its weight around to force all other international cricket associations to bar their players from mainstream cricket. The AIFF do not have that kind of weight in world football. Also the fact that the icon players are all retired or semi-retired and are not considered for their national team anymore would render the ban, if any, meaningless.
Source: http://www.indianfootballnetwork.com/blog/2012/02/01/premier-league-soccer-will-the-aiff-kill-pls-a-la-bcci/