The All India Football Federation has found itself in difficulty after it received a no-cash deal proposal from its marketing partners in the ongoing negotiations about the extension of the Master Rights Agreement (MRA). The contract of MRA is scheduled to be over in December as reported by News9 Sports.

The AIFF receives Rs 50 crore yearly from Reliance-subsidiary Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) after agreeing to hand over marketing rights of all its properties in 2010 for 15 years.

According to News9 Sports, the negotiation between the AIFF and FSDL for a fresh agreement started in New Delhi on 5th February, and two meetings have happened so far. The last of which was held in Mumbai on 5th March with top officials of both organizations in attendance, either physically or virtually.

News9 Sports understands that AIFF's marketing partners have claimed to have suffered a loss of approximately Rs 5000 crore since 2014 when they established the Indian Super League, which attained the status of the country's topmost competition in the 2019-20 season.

The loss is a cumulative amount of around Rs 2800 crore in operational costs suffered by AIFF’s marketing partners and ISL clubs and approximately Rs 2000 crore for the production and broadcast of matches.

Citing such a heavy hole in their coffers, FSDL, instead of entering into any discussion about renewal of the agreement, has tabled a cashless proposal where they, AIFF and ISL clubs would come together to form an entity to run the premier tournament, the profits of which would be divided among the partners in a pre-agreed ratio.

As reported by News9Sports, the AIFF has been offered 14 percent in the new entity, with the rest of the shares divided between clubs and FSDL, who remain keen on keeping the rights of the national team too but simultaneously cautioned the AIFF top brass that improved performance of Manolo Marquez’s side is vital for the growth of Indian football.

They have already let go of the rights to other tournaments like I-League, I-League II, Indian Women’s League, IWL II, Santosh Trophy, Super Cup and age-group national tournaments but retain the right to receive a percentage of sponsorship money.

At around Rs 100 crore, the AIFF’s budget is the highest after cricket among national sports federations (NSFs). In comparison, Hockey India has a budget of about Rs 40 crore.