ISL teams shave cost as season gets longer
ROLLING ON After four challenging years, teams are learning to spend wisely
Bengaluru FC retained 12 players and promoted five from the second team for this season that begins on September 29. Champions Chennaiyin FC have also kept 12 from last season on their rolls.
For both semi-finalists FC Goa and FC Pune City that number is 13, for Kerala Blasters it is 12, for Delhi Dynamos it is 11 while Jamshedpur FC have kept 10. Not all teams have walked that route --- ATK have retained only six and overhauled their quota of foreigners, Mumbai City FC kept only one import and NorthEast United FC (NEUFC), while offering multiple year deals to all Indian players from this term, have only six from last season --but the practice seems to be gaining currency.
Just as doing away with the marquee is. Only Jamshedpur FC’s Tim Cahill would qualify this term --- along with Miku (Bengaluru FC) and Manuel Lanzarote (ATK) he could be the highest paid players this season; earning around Rs 4 crore.
“For the price of a marquee, we can get four good foreigners,” said a team official. Last year, Chennaiyin FC coach John Gregory said they decided to invest in youngsters instead of a marquee.
The focus has also shifted to signing foreigners who could make a name for themselves by playing here --- somewhat like Mendoza --- rather than those once famous. The league too has helped by pruning the number of imports to seven from 11.
The league has also cut costs by coordinating logistics of broadcast kit movement better, commentating from studios, doing away with the glitzy opening ceremony and a centralised PR firm and, generally, devolving greater responsibilities to clubs.
So, though no one is seeing any money yet, fiscal discipline from most stakeholders seems to suggest that they are ready to buckle down for the long haul.