ISL clubs request FSDL to reduce franchise fee to compensate financial crisis
2020-21 ISL is set to kick-start in late November
|ISL
With the financial crunch due to the pandemic set to result in the entire Indian Super League being played behind closed doors, the clubs have requested the organisers to reduce the franchise fee this season. If the FSDL agrees to the proposal, the losses of the clubs would reduce drastically.
According to the existing rules, each of the Indian Super League franchises pays approximately â‚ą 13-16 crore as franchise fee to the Football Sports Development Limited (FSDl) every season. Even though the clubs receive a profit from the central pool, which ranges around â‚ą 13 crores, they suffer an overall loss of around â‚ą 30 crores per season. With the financial crunch suffered owing to the pandemic situation set to force the matches to be played behind closed doors, the clubs have requested the FSDL to truncate the franchise fee for this upcoming season, which would reduce the losses incurred by them to a considerable extent.
“With the league likely to be held behind closed doors and in one state, combined with the Covid-19 pandemic situation, it is certainly going to impact the financials of the club for this season. With regards to that, we have requested the league to support us in terms of reduction of the franchise fee,” said Mandar Tamhane, CEO Bengaluru FC, as reported by Indian Express.
As projected, the clubs will see a dip in the revenue while there will be a sharp increase in the expenses in the upcoming season, with the matches to be played in a single state and also without any fans. The league, as stated by the AIFF, will be held in a bio-secure bubble in either Kerala or Goa and is likely to begin in November, with the pre-season set to kick-start in October.Â
