NEW DELHI: Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), a Reliance and Star India co-owned joint venture that organises the Hero Indian Super League, is set to open bids later this month for two new franchises to join the ISL.
It bears noting that FSDL first floated a tender for new ISL teams through ‘Invitation To Bid’ (ITB) in May 2017.
Bids were invited from prospective team owners in respect of 10 cities — Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cuttack, Durgapur, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Ranchi, Siliguri and Thiruvananthapuram.
As to why the two-year lag between the floating of the ITB and the opening of bids, one critical element is linked to the “heartbeat of Indian football – Kolkata”.
As per the terms of the agreement that was signed with the Kolkata franchise ATK when the ISL was first launched in 2014, any new franchise that wished to set up shop in the City of Joy was limited by the stipulation that it would have to hold its home games outside Kolkata till the completion of the ongoing 2018-19 season.
