Hit by Rs 25 crore loss every season, Bengaluru FC writes to Neeta Ambani

Bengaluru: The owner of Bengaluru FC, one of the country's most successful football clubs of the last decade, has written a letter to Nita Ambani, the Founder Chairperson of the Indian Super League (ISL) and sought counsel and guidance on overcoming losses.

The letter said that they are incurring losses in excess of Rs 25 crore every season and raised concern over 'fragile financial condition' of the country's premier league.

"Losses increased dramatically' during the Covid-19 pandemic because of lack of ticket revenue, losing sponsorship and the additional cost of maintaining the bubble. Reliance Foundation suspending the youth subsidy (of up to Rs 2 crore) to teams has been a 'severe blow', according Bengaluru FC owner Parth Jindal's letter.

Ambani launched the ISL in 2014, in partnership with Star Sports. The league was granted the status of being India's premier football league by the Asian Football Council in 2019. ISL's 11 teams are owned by corporates, movie stars and even cricketers, including former and current India captain, MS Dhoni (Chennaiyin) and Virat Kohli (FC Goa) respectively. The 2021 season of the ISL started on November 20 and is being played in a biosecure bubble in Goa.

Jindal's team played in the former top division I-League before moving to the ISL in 2017. Bengaluru FC is not the only club to feel the burden of the financial strain. It was reported in 2019 that Pune City shut shop due to financial problems and the same year, the Delhi team shifted its base to Odisha to cut its losses.

The report claims that ISL team's major expenses are on player salaries. This season, the league has one of the finest ensembles of foreign players ever, with footballers having experience of playing in Europe and Australia flocking to India as the clubs offered better wages.

"Not having ticket revenue, losing out on sponsorships as well as the additional costs due to maintaining the Covid bubble have resulted in losses increasing dramatically. Since we have joined (sic) the ISL we have been losing in excess of Rs 25 crores every season and this season the numbers are even worse.

Moreover, the already fragile financial health of the ISL has been worsened by the suspension of the youth subsidy usually granted by Reliance Foundation to qualifying teams and inadequate sanctions being imposed on teams flouting player salary cap rules using one loophole or another.

Investing in youth is the only way Indian football is going to grow and stopping the youth subsidy is a severe blow to clubs like ours that are spending on this front," Jindal wrote.

It is said that the main source of income for football clubs around the world is from the revenue generated by selling television rights of the league, that has not been the case in India since the broadcaster is also the league's co-owner. In absence of TV revenue, there are few sources of income for the teams.

The ISL has measures like a salary cap (Rs 16.5 crore) to keep a check on clubs' spending and provide a subsidy of up to Rs 2 crore to incentivise youth development. Jindal felt it wasn't proving enough.

During the 2019-20 season, Bengaluru had four wins from nine matches, just one better than where they are this season. Questions have been raised on Bengaluru's defence this season as they have scored 12 and conceded the same number of goals. Last season, they had conceded only five times in nine matches and 13 in the entire term.