AIFF general body to decide on bids after thorough evaluation

Panaji: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has asked accounting firm KPMG to “prepare comprehensive comparison tables evaluating the feasibility and key aspects of the two bids” for the Indian Super League (ISL) and Federation Cup, the two most important domestic men’s football competitions.

According to sources, purely on numbers, AIFF is in favour of Genius Sports’ bid that totals approximately ₹2,130 crore for commercial rights of the two competitions, for the next 20 years. The London-headquartered company will offer $7 million or Rs 64.4 crore annually in the first year with 5% annual increment. The federation is guaranteed of approx. ₹12.4 crore annually in “administrative fees” if Genius gets the nod.

The second bid of ₹36.6 crore is from FanCode, the federation’s marketing partners for ISL this season.

“The executive committee members were happy with the three bids (including one from Capri Sports for women’s football competitions) and we’ve informed them that it’s better to send it to the general body for approval,” AIFF deputy secretary general M Satyanarayantold TOI. “Since this is an important matter, we want the (general body) members to have the final say.”

As per AIFF Constitution, any arrangement for a period longer than four years and/or arrangement exceeding amount of Rs. 5 crore “must be approved at an AGM/SGM by at least 75% of members present and eligible to vote.”

“The ISL clubs wanted to speak with the bidders and we are more than happy to allow that, to ensure greater clarity and transparency in the process. Whatever queries the clubs have will be addressed directly by the bidders,” said Satyanarayan.

A day prior to the executive committee meeting, ISL clubs had urged AIFF not to take any "binding decision" on the new long-term commercial rights holder. The clubs cited lack of meaningful opportunity to evaluate the bidders since the Request for Quotations (RFQ) document was shared with them just 12 hours prior to the bids being opened.

Club officials have a bitter-sweet feeling of the bids, given that they will get a share of the revenue only after the commercial partner recovers the investment

“If Genius Sports has bid Rs 64 crore, 20% of this amount will straightway go to AIFF as administrative fees. The rest is left for Genius to spend on commercialising the league. Once revenue starts coming in, the model states that Genius can recoup their investment first (of Rs 64 crore), and post that, whatever is left, is split in 60-30-10 ratios (between the clubs, commercial partner and AIFF).

“For clubs to see any form of revenue, Genius has to bring back Rs 64 crore worth of revenue. If the commercial partner does not recoup its initial investment, then the tender terms allow them to move that loss into next year’s targets. Apply the same (principle) to Fancode and the threshold for FanCode is much lower since they have bid only Rs 36 crore,” explained a senior club official.

AIFF officials said they have asked experts from KPMG to evaluate the two bids and submit a report. One of the big four accounting firms, KPMG was on board to prepare the RFQ.