Indian Super League Growing
After a very successful first season, the Indian Super League is looking to expand. The league has been in contact with their counterparts in the English Premier League with potential expansion options to swap players between the two leagues. After the first season where Atletico De Kolkata defeated the Kerala Blasters in front of 40,000 fans, the world started to take note of the Indian Super League. The hype behind the league is softly based off of the ownership of these teams. Both teams in the finals in the inaugural season are co-owned by former Indian cricket stars. Sourav Ganguly who co-owns Kolkata and Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar co-owns the Kerala Blasters. Besides the two cricket players, other Indian staples have been involved according to Yahoo Sports, “The celebrity team owners, also including India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, vice-captain Virat Kohli, and some Indian movie actors, helped to push the new league’s profile initially, but organizers have since then hailed the eight-team competition as a success, claiming it to be the most watched domestic league in Asia.”
More importantly besides the owners of the teams, the teams themselves will be getting major face lifts and be adding stars from across the English Premier League. This week, organizers from the Indian Super League will be visiting the headquarters of the Premier League and explore options of growing the league for high quality football action. Teams including Arsenal FC will be attending the meeting between the two leagues to speak about potential moves and expansion options.
The Indian Super League is hoping this partnership will drive traffic to the league as a whole which would bring more sponsors and supporters to the league. Nita Ambani, a chairman for the Indian Super League explained how they are delighted and hopeful the relationship they will build with the Premier League will jumpstart the Indian League making it a top tier organization in the world.