How the ISL’s club-led model works, and why it exists

The short answer: from 10 October 2026, the Indian Super League operates under a club-led commercial model. A Special Purpose Vehicle owned by the thirteen participating clubs manages the league’s commercial rights, media deals and sponsorship. The AIFF retains regulatory oversight but hands operating control to the clubs. Revenue splits 90–10 in the clubs’ favour. All matches stream free on YouTube.

This is the most significant structural change in Indian club football since the ISL’s launch in 2014, and it happened because the alternative was no season at all.

Why the league needed saving

In December 2025, Football Sports Development Limited — the Reliance-backed company that had run the ISL’s commercial operations since its founding — exited when its contract expired. No new commercial partner emerged. The AIFF’s tender for the 2025–26 rights closed with zero bidders.

The result was a crisis severe enough to require intervention from the Sports Minister and, eventually, the Supreme Court. The 2025–26 season ran only after government involvement, starting in February rather than October, truncated and improvised.

The clubs, facing a second season without a viable commercial structure, pushed for a fundamentally different arrangement: they would run the league themselves.

How the new model works

Function	Who does it
Commercial rights (media, sponsors, ticketing)	Club-owned SPV
League production and broadcasting	Club-owned SPV
Competition regulations and disciplinary matters	AIFF
Club licensing and AFC compliance	AIFF

The Special Purpose Vehicle is a private limited company, owned collectively by the clubs, that handles everything the AIFF used to contract out to FSDL. Each club is a stakeholder with a seat in governance decisions, and the SPV negotiates its own media deals, signs its own sponsors, and distributes proceeds according to a formula the clubs agreed among themselves.

This is not unprecedented globally — the English Premier League operates through a similar structure where clubs own the league company — but it is new for Indian football, and it inverts the power relationship that existed under the FSDL era.

The revenue split

Recipient	Share
Clubs (via SPV)	90% of net profit
AIFF	10% of net profit + ∼₹1.1 crore per club annually

The 90–10 split is what the clubs originally demanded when negotiations began, and the final agreement reflects that position almost unchanged. The AIFF’s 10% plus participation fees covers its regulatory costs and leaves it financially dependent on a league it no longer controls.

Whether that dependency is a problem depends on perspective. The clubs view it as appropriate — they carry the investment risk and should capture the returns. Critics note that it gives the clubs structural leverage over the federation whenever their interests diverge.

Media rights and where to watch

Sony Sports retains television rights for 2026–27 and 2027–28. More significantly, the ISL streams every match free on YouTube for the first time — no paywall, no subscription, accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

The combined deal is valued at approximately ₹25 crore over two seasons, a figure far below what the league fetched a decade ago but realistic given the disruption of the past year. The free-streaming decision prioritises reach over revenue: after a season that barely happened, visibility matters more than extraction.

The 13 clubs

Club	Notes
Bengaluru FC	Hosts the opening match
Chennaiyin FC
Churchill Brothers FC	Subject to regulatory approval; acquires Jamshedpur FC’s licence
East Bengal FC	Defending champions
FC Goa
Inter Kashi FC
Kerala Blasters FC
Mohun Bagan Super Giant
Mumbai City FC
NorthEast United FC
Odisha FC
Punjab FC
Sporting Club Delhi

Jamshedpur FC is out. Churchill Brothers, the Goan club with decades of I-League history, acquires its ISL licence pending final approvals. Diamond Harbour FC, who earned promotion by winning the Indian Football League, did not take up their slot after failing to meet the administrative fee requirement — a reminder that access to the top flight now carries a cost that not every promoted club can pay.

The format

The season runs from October 2026 to May 2027, returning to the full home-and-away calendar after last season’s truncation. Thirteen teams play 163 matches including playoffs. The League Winners Shield goes to the club atop the table after the league phase; the top six advance to playoffs for the ISL Cup. The shield-winner secures the AFC competition berth.

What this does not prove

A club-led model is not automatically better. It is a different distribution of risk and reward that solves certain problems and creates others.

It does not prove the clubs can run a league profitably. The previous commercial partner, backed by Reliance, decided the economics no longer worked. The clubs believe they can do better by cutting out the intermediary. That is a bet, not evidence.

It does not guarantee stability. The agreement includes a two-year review clause. Clubs that lose money may exit. The framework is designed to be renegotiated, which means it will be.

It does not address the deeper issue: why the ISL’s commercial value fell far enough that no external party wanted to run it. A club-led structure redistributes existing revenue more favourably to the clubs; it does not in itself grow the pie. The free YouTube streaming is an attempt to rebuild an audience, but the advertising revenue from free streams is a fraction of what a valuable sports property commands in subscription fees.

What happens now

The 2026–27 and 2027–28 seasons run under this framework as a two-year pilot. If it works — if the league is solvent, the product improves, the clubs stay committed — the arrangement continues. If it doesn’t, Indian football is back to the negotiating table.

The opening match is tonight: Bengaluru FC host Sporting Club Delhi at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. It is the start of either a new era or a holding pattern. The clubs are betting on the former.