The Rupert Murdoch and Mukesh Ambani promoted Indian Super League (ISL) is partnering with the English Premier League (EPL) to help the new tournament adopt best practices from the world's most popular football league, as well as establish a governance structure for its franchises.
The European league will assist in shaping the ISL brand, fan engagement, setting up anti-corruption and anti-doping rules apart from sharing its vast know-how on aspects such as marketing, promotions, referee development, stadium management and player development.
“Partnering with the Premier League brings credence to the Indian Super League and to our vision of popularising the sport in India,“ said Nita Ambani, chairperson of IMG-Reliance. “The alliance also presents a great opportunity of partnership and cross promotions between the ISL League partners and Premier League clubs.“
The first edition of the football league, which is a three-way joint venture among IMG, Reliance Industries and Star India, will be played in September this year among eight city teams. These teams -Bangalore, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune -are owned by celebs and top businessmen who includes Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly , Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham, PVP Ventures, Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjeev Goenka, Spanish football club Atletico Madrid, Venugopal Dhoot and others.
The co-operation pact between ISL and EPL will raise the bar for football in India and also bring in television and on-ground viewership. The English league is the most watched sporting event in the world with 13.9 million people going to watch matches at stadiums last season. In cricket-crazy India, football viewership is on the rise. In 2011, there were 83 million TV viewers for football in India, compared with 122 million for cricket. Between 2005 and 2009, the audience for football in India rose 60%, according to TAM Media Research, with a big chunk of them watching the European league.
According to Richard Scudamore,CEO of the EPL, there is opportunity to further develop the sport in India. “We know from our broadcast partner Star India, and our work with the AIFF (All India Football Federation) on our long-established grassroots football project Premier Skills that we run in several locations across India, that the popularity of football, and the Premier League, is growing,“ Scudamore said.
Jeff Slack, senior vice-president, global football development, at IMG, said the English league will help ISL with the approach to develop and grow the game. “They have huge amount of experience with that. For them, India is the most important international growth market,“ he said.
For the Premier League, this partnership will bring in an opportunity for its clubs to stage matches in India and also take help from the ISL for other business development initiatives here. It is also likely to encourage exchange programmes and partnership building between clubs of the two leagues.
The two leagues will also cross-promote football coverage on Star India's platform.
Uday Shankar,CEO of Star India, which is also the broadcaster for the ISL, said the partnership will help create local heroes.
“From a game that hobbled about on the fringes of Indian sports, there's promise that this partnership will lift and reinvigorate football.“ Former minister Praful Patel, who is the president of the AIFF, said with this partnership, “ISL will develop and grow in the right way , ensuring benefits not only for the league itself but also for the wider Indian football ecosystem in the longer term.“
EPL would hold workshops in India and in London to help put together a structure for the new tournament. ISL franchises will have an opportunity to meet with various EPL clubs.
The European league will assist in shaping the ISL brand, fan engagement, setting up anti-corruption and anti-doping rules apart from sharing its vast know-how on aspects such as marketing, promotions, referee development, stadium management and player development.
“Partnering with the Premier League brings credence to the Indian Super League and to our vision of popularising the sport in India,“ said Nita Ambani, chairperson of IMG-Reliance. “The alliance also presents a great opportunity of partnership and cross promotions between the ISL League partners and Premier League clubs.“
The first edition of the football league, which is a three-way joint venture among IMG, Reliance Industries and Star India, will be played in September this year among eight city teams. These teams -Bangalore, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune -are owned by celebs and top businessmen who includes Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly , Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham, PVP Ventures, Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjeev Goenka, Spanish football club Atletico Madrid, Venugopal Dhoot and others.
The co-operation pact between ISL and EPL will raise the bar for football in India and also bring in television and on-ground viewership. The English league is the most watched sporting event in the world with 13.9 million people going to watch matches at stadiums last season. In cricket-crazy India, football viewership is on the rise. In 2011, there were 83 million TV viewers for football in India, compared with 122 million for cricket. Between 2005 and 2009, the audience for football in India rose 60%, according to TAM Media Research, with a big chunk of them watching the European league.
According to Richard Scudamore,CEO of the EPL, there is opportunity to further develop the sport in India. “We know from our broadcast partner Star India, and our work with the AIFF (All India Football Federation) on our long-established grassroots football project Premier Skills that we run in several locations across India, that the popularity of football, and the Premier League, is growing,“ Scudamore said.
Jeff Slack, senior vice-president, global football development, at IMG, said the English league will help ISL with the approach to develop and grow the game. “They have huge amount of experience with that. For them, India is the most important international growth market,“ he said.
For the Premier League, this partnership will bring in an opportunity for its clubs to stage matches in India and also take help from the ISL for other business development initiatives here. It is also likely to encourage exchange programmes and partnership building between clubs of the two leagues.
The two leagues will also cross-promote football coverage on Star India's platform.
Uday Shankar,CEO of Star India, which is also the broadcaster for the ISL, said the partnership will help create local heroes.
“From a game that hobbled about on the fringes of Indian sports, there's promise that this partnership will lift and reinvigorate football.“ Former minister Praful Patel, who is the president of the AIFF, said with this partnership, “ISL will develop and grow in the right way , ensuring benefits not only for the league itself but also for the wider Indian football ecosystem in the longer term.“
EPL would hold workshops in India and in London to help put together a structure for the new tournament. ISL franchises will have an opportunity to meet with various EPL clubs.
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