ISL seeks new home after Disney Star exit
- Disney Star had urged FSDL to auction the media rights of ISL with their decade-long agreement coming to an end this year.
The Indian Super League (ISL) is in search of a new home, following Disney Star’s decision to bid adieu to the football league at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season.
According to people familiar with the development, Disney Star said continuous losses and declining viewership have influenced its decision not to renew the contract.
“The contract between Disney Star and ISL, encompassing the league’s broadcasting and media rights, is over. Star isn’t looking to renew the contract for the upcoming season and both parties have decided to go their separate ways,” said one of the people cited above, seeking anonymity.
ISL, an initiative of Football Sports Development Ltd (FSDL), enjoys the backing of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and is jointly owned by Reliance Industries Ltd (65%) and Disney Star (35%). However, the league has faced financial challenges, with FSDL posting losses of ₹46 crore in 2021-22, ₹13 crore in 2020-21, and ₹27 crore in 2019-2020.
Initially, Star India held the majority ownership with a 35% stake in FSDL and had broadcasting rights for the league.
Reliance Industries owned a 33% stake directly and another 32% through the joint venture with IMG Worldwide. In 2018, Reliance acquired IMG’s stake and rebranded the company as Rise Worldwide. Now, with a change in ownership, Reliance owns 65% in FSDL. According to the people cited above, with Reliance looking to aggressively expand its entertainment business with Viacom18, Disney Star doesn’t want to be a part of a loss-making league.
Disney Star had urged FSDL to auction the media rights of ISL with their decade-long agreement coming to an end this year. However, it was evident that due to Reliance’s majority stake in the league, competing broadcasters such as Sony Pictures Networks India and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd would not actively participate in the bidding process.
The people said ISL’s media rights is expected to be owned by Viacom18 from next season.
Email queries sent to Disney Star, Rise Worldwide and Viacom18 did not elicit a response till press time.
The absence of contenders for media rights is raising concerns among sports marketing experts, as this scenario could hinder the league from realizing its potential and impeding growth prospects for football in India, as it may continue to pose challenges for the league and hamper its development.
In comparison, the Indian Premier League (IPL), which recently saw fierce bidding from Disney Star and Viacom18 for the rights, managed to get over `48,390 crore from two players for the TV and digital rights, respectively. The owner of the league, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, uses half of the rights fee for grassroots development of the game. Revenues earned by ISL from its broadcaster are meagre, and the advertising revenue fares less — with ad time being comparatively low during a football game — reducing the chances of reinvestment.
Due to mounting losses in previous years, FC Pune City shut shop at the end of the 2018-19 season while the Delhi Dynamos were forced to shift base to Odisha. In 2021, Parth Jindal, Bengaluru FC’s owner, in a letter to ISL chairperson Nita Ambani, said the club was incurring losses of about 25 crore every season and that he was concerned about the “fragile financial condition” of the country’s apex league.
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Business NewsNewsISL seeks new home after Disney Star exit
First Published:20 Jul 2023, 11:45 PM IST
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