The All India Football Federation's (AIFF) Executive Committee, in their meeting at Mumbai on Saturday, decided to end their contracts with Zee Sports. The federation has formed a three member sub-committee comprising of Subrata Pal, Larsing Ming and Hardev Jadeja.
The trio is to negotiate with Zee Sports as to how the contract should be terminated. They are also entrusted upon to review the broadcast rights proposed by Reliance-IMG which has been in the reckoning for quite a while now.
Zee Sports has a contract with AIFF for 10 years since 2005 for a price of about 275 Crores. Last October, Zee sent in a proposal to review their contract, asking for a reduction in the contractual amount claiming that Indian football is not a marketable property and hence they are running into losses.
AIFF in the meantime got a proposal from Reliance-IMG for the broadcast rights and promotion of Indian Football which they seems to like it as Zee was not doing their best to promote the game. So it’s likely that the contract with Zee will end and Reliance-IMG will step in and acquire the broadcast rights and work for the promotion of Indian Football.
Moreover Reliance-IMG is also sponsoring the National under-15 team, which will train for four years at IMG's base in Florida.
However in the midst of all these contract termination and agreement, football lovers across the country will be ripped off their chance to cheer for their favorite players and clubs in the I-league. Its quiet unlikely that all the formalities will be completed before November 26, when the I-League actually kicks off.
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