Owners, cities to be named in Indian Soccer League today
MUMBAI: It could be Sachin Tendulkar against Sourav Ganguly, Salman Khan v Shah Rukh Khan only the contest wouldn’t be either cricket or cinema but football. The owners and the franchises of the million-dollar Indian Super League (ISL) will be announced on Sunday.
Those in the fray to own teams, each with a base price of ` 12 crore, include Tendulkar and Ganguly, actors Abhishek Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham, Salman and SRK.
Cor porate entities such as Videocon, PVP Ventures, the GMR Group, Mumbaibased Dewan Housing, Samir Manchanda of DEN networks and Kolkata-based businessman Harsh Neotia too have submitted bids that were evaluated through Friday and Saturday. Media companies Sun Group and Zee Group have also placed bids, it was learnt.
There are nine cities in contention for eight spots and it is likely that Chennai will lose out.
Tendulkar and PVP Ventures have shown interest for the Kochi franchise while Ganguly has bid for the Kolkata franchise tying up with La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid and being backed by Neotia. I-League club Shillong Lajong are said to be keen on Guwahati making a joint-bid with Abraham. Salman has clubbed his bid with Dewan Housing for Pune and former I-league champions Dempo have supported Videocon’s bid.
A total of 30 bid documents were procured from ISL promoters IMG-Reliance and it was learnt that the bidders decided to join hands after the tenders were out.
The ‘invitation to bid’ tenders were closed on March 27 and a high-profile independent panel zeroed-in on the owners and the cities. Ernst and Young, the renowned accounting and corporate services firm, studied the submitted bids, which have two parts.
The first part relates to the purchase highlights asking the bidder to list how it would develop the franchise and how it would balance books. It also has guidelines on purchase of players, support team and adhering to the league’s terms and conditions. The second part emphasises on the development at the grassroots level, infrastructure and long-term plans of the franchise.