Football franchises spent around Rs 24 crore in the two-day domestic player draft for the upcoming inaugural Indian Super league, which concluded here on Wednesday.
“The Rs 24 crore that was spent (by franchises) was a lot of money. We got into this venture three and a half years ago. Today it was very fulfilling this (draft) has happened. It has been a historic couple of days,” said Jefferson Slack, senior vice president (global business development — football) of IMG, who are joint promoters of the IPl-style league along with Reliance and broadcasters Star India.
The break-up of the amount spent by the six franchises, which took part in the draft is: Athletico de Kolkata — Rs 3.91 crore, Delhi Dynamos — Rs 2.81 crore, Kerala Blasters Rs 3.31 crore, Bengaluru Rs 3.04 crore, Mumbai — Rs 3.76 crore and Pune — Rs 3.19 crore.
The remaining amount was spent by the other two franchises — Goa and North East United FC — who had finalised their domestic players before today’s draft and announced them over the last two days.
Star India president Nitin Kukreja said the exact dates of the tournament, for which the All India Football Federation has left a window open between September 18 and December 7, are still not decided.