The Indian Super League has never been perfect, but over the years it has survived on faith rather than balance sheets.
The idea that even when everything was messed up, the league was still moving forward. That belief has taken a hit this season, and rather than calming nerves, the new broadcast deal has quietly confirmed just how far the Indian Super League has come.
For starters, yes, ISL finally has a broadcast station. After months and months of waiting for the league to start, the tournament will finally return on February 14th. After waiting forever, with clubs wondering when the season will even start, the tournament is ready to get underway again.
However, the numbers attached to this comeback tell a story that would send chills down the spine of any football lover in India.
The ISL will return on February 15 with Mohun Bagan playing the opening match. (PTI Photo)
Because once you really dig deep and check where the tournament is rated (broadcast rights) you will be forced to look away as a football fan.
The Indian Super League, which is supposed to be the highest football competition in the country, has been outbid even by the regional leagues in India.
How has the new ISL broadcast contract changed?
Last season, the 2024-25 ISL broadcast deal cost Rs 275 crore for 163 matches, with each game valued at around Rs 1.68 crore. They weren’t blockbusters, but they indicated the league still had commercial weight and long-term hope.
Owned by Jiostar, this deal is now history. The new contract for the 2025–26 season has been picked up by FanCode for Rs 8.62 crore, which covers a shortened season of 91 matches. Per match, this number drops to around Rs 9.5 crore.
In direct terms, AIFF grossed Rs 266.38 crore. That’s almost a 97% drop. For a league that was once sold as the future of Indian football, this number will land like a punch in the stomach.
If you are confused about how we went from Rs 275 to Rs 8.62 crore, the TL;DR is that the AIFF thought it was in a strong position to renegotiate Indian football’s business deals. It wasn’t.
A new tender for broadcasting rights was announced and, to no surprise, not a single interested party applied. In a last gasp, FanCode arrived as a rescue act and snapped up the rights to this season at an unhealthy discount.
How far have the ISL numbers fallen?
Even the reboot format screams damage.
This is not the entire marathon season. Instead, the ISL returns in fast-forward mode with 91 matches packed into a tight window. Each team will play 13 home and away matches as the league climbs to the finish line following the collapse of the AIFF’s 15-year commercial rights deal with Football Sports Development Limited.
Sorting out the broadcast menu simply means that ISL can exist again. It doesn’t mean it’s healthy.
You don’t have to go far to really understand the fall. Right now, Super League Kerala, a regional football league in India, tops the Indian top flight.
- Kerala Super League Broadcast Agreement: 100 crores of Rs
- Offer Duration: 5 years
- Matches per season: 91
- Broadcast value per match: 22 crores of Rs
Now place this next to the current ISL deal:
- ISL Broadcast Agreement (2025–2026): 8.62 crores of Rs
- Matches this season: 91
- Broadcast value per match: 9.5 million Rs
The fall of the ISL was too hard for any Indian with a football dream.
This means that one Super League Kerala match has more than double the value of an ISL game. This is not a rounding error.
This is not a dig at Kerala football. It’s a reality check for ISL.
The rise of Super League Kerala is rather good news for Indian football. It shows that the sport still has appeal, that fans care about it, and that well-run local leagues can attract serious support.
But when the state competition begins to have a commercial edge over the country’s primary football league, it ceases to be a success story and begins to spell trouble.
Where does the ISL stand against the IPL?
Any comparison with the Indian Premier League has always hurt, but it also explains why Indian football keeps losing ground in boardrooms and balance sheets. In 2022, BCCI sold IPL media rights for a whopping Rs 48,390 crore (approx) over five years, turning the league into a financial heavyweight that plays by its own rules.
Here’s how it breaks down:
- IPL Media Rights (2023–27): 48,390 crores
- Matches per season: 74
- Media value per match: 131 crores of Rs
Now transfer the ISL to the same frame:
- ISL Media Agreement (2025–2026): 8.62 crores of Rs
- Matches this season: 91
- Value per match: 9.5 million Rs
And that’s where the comparison stops being funny. Will the ISL survive the current uncertainty? (Design: India Today)
AIFF’s earnings from ISL media rights are more than 5,600 times less than what BCCI gets from IPL. On a match-by-match basis, an IPL game is valued more than 1200 times more than an ISL game.
In other words, one IPL match alone can fund around 15 full ISL seasons at current broadcast rates.
Add a little more to the global aspect and the gap only widens.
The English Premier League’s new domestic TV deal for the 2025-2029 cycle is worth 6.7 billion pounds, roughly Rs 83,059 crore.
It’s a whole different universe. But it shows what happens when leagues protect value, stability and long-term trust, something Indian football has known very little about in recent times.
Now that everything is said and analyzed, one thing is true. The ISL is still alive and that counts for something.
The games will be played, the fans will show up (hopefully), the coaches will work hard, and the players will give it their all. For Indian football, it looks like getting another Christmas present at the moment.
But when one dares to think about the bigger picture or perhaps the future of Indian football’s reach, the new deal is more like another nail in the coffin.
– The end
Issued by:
Debodinna Chakraborty
Published on:
February 5, 2026