The i-League 2016-17 Show – Crowd support and venues

by Shaon Roy January 6, 2017

We are now just a day away from the start of the 10th edition of I-League. Though I-League started its journey on 24th November 2007, it took them almost nine and a half years to finally become a PAN-Indian football league. It’s better late than never.

Let’s have a look!

CROWD SUPPORT & VENUES:

For the first time in I-League’s history, matches will be played across ten different venues, all over India. This was made possible  due to many reasons, such as:

• Rival clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal choosing to play at different venues as the Salt Lake stadium is under renovation due to Under-17  FIFA World Cup, starting on October 6th, this year.
• AIFF finally accepting bids from Minerva FC and Chennai City FC after rejecting them initially. It was learnt that AIFF wanted clubs with a minimum of 100 crore bank guarantee but later they watered down the bank guarantee to a paltry 1 Crore.
• Aizwal being reinstated into the league, soon after Salgaocar and Sporting Goa withdrew from the league.
• Five times I-League champion Dempo’s withdrawal, citing the uncertainty that looms over I-league’s future though they qualified for the league after winning the I-League 2nd Division.
• AIFF being forced to include Churchill Brothers into the league after Delhi High Court directed them. Churchill Brothers will make a comeback to the I-League after a two-year hiatus.

Needless to say, there has been a lot of drama before the start of this year’s I-League.

Considering the fact that the league will be played at ten different venues, one might think that the average attendance of this years I-League will be much higher compared to the other editions of the I-League. But that is not going to be the case as both the Kolkata giants, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan will move from their 68,000 seater home stadium to a 22,000 one. This being a drawback, the positive part will be the representation of only 1 team from Goa which has never happened in the history of I-league. The reason why we are claiming it to be an advantage is because of poor crowd response from the state during I-league matches.

During the first two matches of 2015-16 I-league, held at Goa, only 142 and 103 tickets were sold. This happened right after the end of the second season of ISL where in almost every home match of Goa FC, the 20,000 seater Fatorda Stadium was houseful.

It seems that the football crazy Goa crowd was simply not interested in the I-League matches, maybe because of the football overdose or because the owners of the Goan clubs were not doing enough to pull crowds into the stadium, unlike the ISL Goa franchise.

It also has to be seen how the newbie I-League clubs like Minerva and Chennai City fares when it comes to attracting crowds to the stadium. In ISL 3, Chennaiyin FC had an average attendance of 22,139 at the JLN Stadium Chennai. This figure was the 3rd highest average attendance in the tournament this year. Even if Chennai City gets half the crowd as Chennaiyin FC  then it should be considered a success for the new I-League team. This is because the difference in the annual budget of this two teams representing the same city is huge.

For Clubs like Bengaluru, Aizawl, Shillong Lajong, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan it is safe to assume that lots of people will turn up to the Stadium for the matches; this is one of the many perks of a fan based club in India. Though the capacity of the home stadium of each of these teams is not as good, however, the passion, the cheers and jeers of the home fans will make you realise that they are no less than any top Asian or European team supporters. Expect a lively crowd!

The average attendance of 2014-15 and 2013-14 I-League was 5,909 and 5,618 respectively. Compared to the average attendance of ISL, it is really appalling.

The average attendance for this year’s I-League at most can increase by 3,000 and not more than that. Even for this to happen the crowd response from all the venues has to be really good.

The highest possible average attendance for the 2016-17 I-League can be 18,700. In order to achieve this, all the 90 I-League matches have to be sold-out. Quite an unrealistic target to be very honest.  Though an average attendance of 8000-9000 is quite an attainable figure.