IMG-Reliance in a meting with AIFF yesterday discussed at length about an IPL-style Indian Football League which will last for 2 months and will involve 8 franchisee owned teams.
Current I-league goes on from October till May spanning 8 months altogether which leaves no room for any other series. For this purpose and to cut the costs, the I-league will be made shorter where teams will be divided into East-West conferences on the lines of Major League Soccer of US.
But there are a lot of problems in implementing such a franchisee based tournament. Obviously, this tournament will attract all the major sponsors and eye-balls giving further troubles to the already struggling I-league. And the clubs, now under IPFCA, will certainly not want to be left out.
There are many finer details and major issues that need to be discussed between the two parties before anything is made concrete. For this purpose, a meeting has been called on 24th of this month between AIFF and IMG-Reliance.
Instead of starting a new domestic league based on the IPL, why doesn't the AIFF get the corporate industry to support the present i-league clubs. And also if they want to start a new league why don't they start a league involving clubs from the other subcontinental countries like Pakistan, Nepal etc. thus improving the foreign exposure of the clubs and if approved by AFC could even help in increase the club spot quota in the AFC club championships.
what will happen to the I league teams?