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Jamshedpur FC Quit Over a ₹55 Lakh Fee. The Club-Run ISL Then Drew 65 Million YouTube Views in Week One.

By Vikram Yadav

Updated on November 6, 2026
IST 2:31 pm

The Indian Super League kicked off on 10 October under a new model in which the clubs, not a commercial partner, run the league. It lost Jamshedpur FC over a missed instalment in July, yet its first matchweek, streamed free on YouTube, drew 65 million views. Both numbers say something about where Indian football’s money problem sits.

Football players competing for the ball during a match

How the ISL ended up club-run

Last season was squeezed into less than four months, from 14 February to 21 May in a single-leg format. Reuters reported that it was cut short after the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Reliance Industries ended a 15-year commercial partnership, amid a Supreme Court case over a new AIFF constitution.

Under an agreement reached on 8 July, the clubs will run the league for at least two years. The AIFF transferred the ISL’s commercial rights to the clubs for four years, with an option for them to exit after two. The league is run through a private limited special purpose vehicle, with 10 per cent of net profit going to the AIFF and 90 per cent to the clubs, Outlook reported.

The ₹55 lakh exit

Each club had to pay the AIFF ₹1.1 crore in administrative fees, in two instalments. Jamshedpur FC missed the first instalment of ₹55 lakh by the extended deadline of 31 July; the original deadline was 20 July. The club said it “will not be participating in ISL from 2026-27 season onwards”. Inter Kashi also missed the first deadline but paid later.

Jamshedpur, founded in 2017 and owned by the Tata Group, won the ISL League Winners’ Shield in 2021-22. Onmanorama reported that Tata Steel was unwilling to take on the added financial risk of the new framework. Former India captain Sunil Chhetri asked the group to reconsider: “It might be a poor business decision, but it will be the one Indian football needs the most at this hour.”

Jamshedpur were not the only absentee. Diamond Harbour FC, promoted as 2025-26 Indian Football League champions, did not meet the fee requirement and has not taken up its slot. Under the league’s rules it cannot earn points, is placed at the bottom of the table and will play in the IFL in 2027-28, ESPN reported.

Thirteen clubs, 163 matches

The AIFF confirmed on 19 August that the season would go ahead with 13 clubs playing home and away. “We’re pleased to get the number of teams locked in for the season,” a club representative said in the AIFF statement. The league later fixed a 10 October start, with the season running into May 2027: 163 matches over eight months.

The table-toppers win the Shield, are named official ISL champions and earn a slot in Asian competition; the top six then play off for the ISL Cup. The 13 clubs are Bengaluru FC, Chennaiyin FC, Churchill Brothers, East Bengal, FC Goa, Inter Kashi, Kerala Blasters, Mohun Bagan Super Giant, Mumbai City, NorthEast United, Odisha FC, Punjab FC and Sporting Club Delhi.

The first phase has 78 matches from 10 October to 17 January, 53 of them on weekends, PTI reported.

Free on YouTube, and watched

Every match is streamed live and free on YouTube, with television coverage on Sony Sports Network and streaming on SonyLIV. PTI reported that the aim was to make all 163 matches available without a subscription barrier.

Matchweek one figures reported by Khel Now: 65 million YouTube views, 16.8 million engaged views and 120,000 new subscribers, taking the league’s channel to 2.7 million. NorthEast United against Mohun Bagan Super Giant in Guwahati was the most-viewed match on the English feed, with 17 million views. Inter Kashi against Kerala Blasters in Pune had the highest peak concurrent English-feed audience, at 349,073.

Views are not revenue. A free stream widens reach, but the clubs now carry the league’s commercial risk directly, and their 90 per cent share is of net profit, not gross income. The audience is the asset they will have to sell to sponsors, for a league whose national team Reuters noted was ranked 138th in the world in August.

What to watch

17 January: the end of phase one. Whether week-one viewing holds across a long home-and-away season is the first test of the free-stream approach.

The two-year exit clause. Clubs can walk away from the commercial arrangement after two seasons, so the 2026-27 and 2027-28 numbers will decide whether this model lasts.

Who pays next year. Jamshedpur and Diamond Harbour both fell at the fee stage, which shows how narrow the margin is for clubs outside the biggest budgets.