Kamal Ghorui
PANAJI: Indian Super League (ISL) club owners have proposed the formation of a club working committee involving the owners and decision makers, who would then engage with the federation in a “structured and transparent” manner to find the best taker for its long-term commercial rights.In a letter signed by 13 of the 14 owners, except Inter Kashi, the clubs said the group wanted to provide an appropriate platform through which ideas can be exchanged, common ground can be identified, and a balanced, sustainable, and mutually beneficial framework can be developed together.
The clubs proposed three owners, Bhavesh Jindal/ Dhruv Sood (SC Delhi), Nikhil Nimmagadda (Kerala Blasters) and Rohan Sharma (Odisha FC), in the committee, while other representatives include Ravi Puskur (CEO, FC Goa), Ekansh Gupta (VP, Chennaiyin), Darren Caldeira (CEO, Bengaluru) and Vinay Chopra (director, Mohun Bagan SG).The club owners’ letter to AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey comes two days after the federation formed the ISL Governing Council and asked remaining six clubs to submit the name of their representative latest by Friday. The AIFF’s response, interestingly, came after an online meeting of all club owners just a day earlier.The club owners had little choice but join hands since the AIFF appears keen to accept the bid from Genius Sports and hand the London-based company the commercial rights of the ISL for 15+5 years. Genius’ Rs 64.4 crore annual bid, or approx. Rs 2,130 crore over 20 years with a five percent increment per year, needs an approval from the general body.The clubs aren’t happy with the rights procees and believe it’s important to engage with all stakeholders.
