‘No bids were received’- ISL bid failure forces Mohun Bagan to suspend training News24 –
No bidders have been found to purchase the commercial rights to the Indian Supper League (ISL) by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), and this raises serious concerns about the future of the Indian top-level football league. In a great blow after this, the first team training of players of ISL double champions Mohun Bagan Super Giants has been suspended immediately bringing to the fore more confusion that has been surrounding the league.
Team officially Confirms Training Halted
“The players were supposed to assemble on Monday and start training from Tuesday. But with no clarity on ISL, that has been stopped for now,” said a team official on Friday. Salaries of players and staff will not be stopped, the official said.
“No bids were received within the stipulated timeframe,” the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said in a media release. 5pm on Friday was the deadline which was given for the submission for the 15-years agreement
“The AIFF Bid Evaluation Committee will convene over the weekend to review the situation and deliberate on the future course of action,” the release said.
AIFF Official Hints at Possible Revision of Bid Conditions
According to the constitution of AIFF, the federation shall own the top tier league.
“The Seniormost Top Division League shall mean the league competition owned, operated, and recognised by AIFF, that implements the principles of promotion and relegation, and meets all requirements prescribed by AFC for being eligible to obtain a direct slot in the Asian Champions League,” says the constitution approved by the Supreme Court and adopted by the AIFF on October 12.
After the RFP, the AIFF responded to 234 queries by the interested parties which included four ones with the name of which being Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) which operated an ISL until the last season.
“Given that there was so much interest, we had not expected this,” said an AIFF official speaking on condition of anonymity. The official did not rule out revised conditions in the bid document.
AIFF’s RFP Sets Strict Financial and Eligibility Criteria
Request For Proposal (RFP) of the AIFF required a minimum guaranteed payment of either 37.5 crore per year or 5 percent of the gross revenue, whichever was bigger. The document shows that the bidder will consist of not more than three members, and they must have a minimum net worth of 250 crore by the close of the financial year 2024-25. Parachute payment was assured as per the RFP, as per time spent in ISL as per the RFP, the payment would be in the form of a chance of the central profit pool. The RFP also indicated that the bidder has to provide bank guarantee three times the amount pledged during the first year as a performance guarantee. There was a requirement to present bids with security of 10 lakh rupees, RFP claimed.