The Kerala Football Association can breathe a big sigh of relief after it completed the seventh Ramco Kerala Premier League this week but its plans for a new super league next season is likely to run into time trouble.
The KFA has received two bids for its commercial rights — which also requires the bid winner to start a new Super League — for the next 12 years but it is not likely to complete the formalities to get the new league up and running next season, which starts on June 1 this year.
“Only two companies have submitted their bids and they have been opened by the expert committee headed by our (KFA) president. It has made some arrangements to make a report by next week and then the executive committee has to meet and decide about it. But at this moment, I think it may get delayed...because of COVID, no official meeting is possible,” P. Anilkumar, the KFA general secretary, told Sportstar on Saturday.
READ: KFA set to issue RFPs for commercial rights of 12 years
“Since this matter is of a serious nature, they need to discuss it in person. So, it may get delayed by one or two months.”
Ideally, agreements between the KFA and the bid-winner will have to be completed before the beginning of the new season (the KFA season is from June 1 to May 31) so that the teams concerned could plan their moves well.
“If things had been completed before May, then we can start registering players by June. And accordingly, we can restructure our competition calendar but unfortunately, because of this coronavirus position, we are not in a position to redesign it,” said Anilkumar.
“So, we may lose one season from our side because we have to make the deal prior to the season. If the agreement is not in place before the start of the season, it will be difficult for them to implement everything as per expectations.”
One understands that the bids for KFA’s commercial rights have come from within Kerala from some prominent business groups.
Three parties had picked the bid document and two had put in their bids.
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