FC Goa CEO Ravi Puskur advocates for Government support to sustain Goan Football

Puskur dives deep into the major issues and ways in which Goan football can be uplifted.

FC Goa CEO Ravi Puskur made a strong case for greater government support to enhance the accessibility and sustainability of football in Goa.

Speaking at the Goa Football Development Council (GFDC) Football Summit 2024 at the BPS Sports Club in Margao on Wednesday, Puskur, representing one of the Indian Super League’s (ISL) most successful clubs, underscored the challenges faced by football clubs due to rising operational costs. He called for government intervention to help clubs thrive.

Rising costs of hosting matches in Goa

He began by addressing the financial strain of hosting home matches in Goa.

“For us to organise an ISL match, based on the data from last season, it cost us INR 45 lakhs per game, even before a ball is kicked. This includes everything because the standards that are expected – ranging from club licensing to the ISL requirements, etc. – are understandably high. Then, you have to try and see how much you can recoup from that.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that we are bent on making ourselves profitable. If profitability was the priority, we would have long shut shop by now. It is just to see if we can try and at least come close to being self-sustainable. Even sustainability is very far away.

In return for our expenses, we’re generating revenues only of about INR 4-5 lakhs per game, meaning we lose about INR 40 lakhs per match.

“We have to organise about 12-15 matches every season, so the overall loss is significant,” said Puskur, highlighting the financial difficulties faced by the club.

“What we’re getting is hence nowhere close to the money that we’re spending on matchday operations alone. And I’ve not even discussed player salaries and other expenses of ours.”

Impact on fans and ticket prices

Ravi Puskur further explained how these high costs directly affect the fans, making it hard to reduce ticket prices. “If the grounds were cheaper, we could make some different decisions. If the exponential costs of operating the ground are brought down, I can confidently say right now itself, that we will immediately knock off the ticket prices by at least INR 50.

“So, if the ground charges and the operating charges come down – and that can happen only with the support of the entire ecosystem, the SAG (Sports Authority of Goa), GFDC, GFA (Goa Football Association), with all of them helping us in the process because everybody has access to vendors, connections etc. that can make everything cheaper – then immediately we can make the ground accessible for everybody else.

“It is not our intention to price people out of attending matches. We are, in fact, the biggest revenue contributors to SAG at this point, but if the current trend continues, we might not be capable of it anymore,” he warned, emphasizing the unsustainable nature of the current financial model without government aid.

Need for government support: Lessons from the North East

Mandar Tamhane, CEO of NorthEast United FC, echoed Puskur’s concerns, sharing how government support has benefited his club.

“Costs are a key component as Ravi (Puskur) mentioned. During the two seasons when the ISL was held completely in Goa, we paid roughly INR 9-10 lakhs on stadium rent alone, per game. Comparing that with NorthEast United FC right now, we use our stadium absolutely free of cost. The government has given it to us for free.

These are the small things which will obviously help professional clubs. At the end of the day, it needs to be understood that everyone in Indian football is losing money, and that is very important. Only with support from various stakeholders, like the government who owns the stadium, can the conditions improve.

Recently, the government also handed over 15 acres of land, for us to kick-start our own residential academy.

The one difference that I can highlight between the North East and Goa governments is that the North East are much more focused on promoting sports and are taking more of an effort to draw the youth closer to sports.”

Proposal for a Public-Private partnership model

Following these discussions, Puskur proposed a private partnership model between the government and Clubs to ease financial pressures.

“The SAG has the responsibility to maintain all these big grounds, but essentially, these infrastructure projects become white elephants. A private partnership model would reduce expenses for both parties. For instance, if FC Goa were to use the Fatorda Stadium for eight months, we could look after part of the maintenance. In return, rental charges could be subsidised, or a revenue-sharing opportunity could be explored. Without hitting either party’s pockets too hard, both could benefit,” he suggested, outlining a collaborative approach for a more sustainable future for Goan football.

Dr. Geeta Nagvenkar, Director of SAG, commented on the potential of such a model:

“Privatisation of maintenance could be the way forward, especially for a football-loving state like Goa. It will help the government save money on maintenance and improve efficiency. Stadiums could be leased out for 10-20 years, which could also attract investment from the private sector. These facilities should remain sports-centric, and there should be transparency in their usage to allow access for other sports associations as well.”

The challenges: the Salvador do Mundo experience

However, Puskur shared the challenges FC Goa faced in a similar partnership when they developed the Salvador do Mundo Panchayat Ground during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Let me begin by stressing that I don’t think it is the government’s responsibility to provide infrastructure to professional clubs; all around the world, the global practice is that they develop and maintain their own infrastructure.

The unfortunate fact here, however, is that the financial ecosystem of Indian football is not robust enough for a Club to build their own infrastructure. We tried to understand the situation, we did the modelling, and the costs (for a stadium alone) comes close to INR 200 crores. The way the ISL is currently existing in terms of its financial model, spending INR 200 crores for a stadium alone is not necessary.

“When we realised the need to build infrastructure, we also understood that Goa has close to 200 grounds already – so why should we go about and build additional grounds. There we took a conscious decision to try and adopt some of the already existing grounds, work on them and develop them.

“And we did that – during the COVID-19 pandemic we could not get access to our training ground that we had previously rented from SAG, the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, because the ISL was held completely in Goa across three venues and the Bambolim Stadium was one of them. We then shifted to a ground which was completely barren, the Salvador do Mundo Panchayat Ground. We built it from scratch and made what was undoubtedly the best pitch in the whole of Goa – up until we gave it up this summer.

“Everyone who has visited the ground and the pitch have confirmed that it was indeed the best-maintained pitch in the state.

“When we took up that ground, we invested close to INR 1 crore, just to build it from scratch. Once you spend that much money, you expect some sort of reciprocation or support from the panchayat or local body, whoever is in charge of the facility. But then, after two years of renting it for INR 25000 a month, when you are told that you now have to pay INR 3 lakhs a month to use a facility that you have developed, then all faith is lost.”

Hope for change

Despite this setback, Puskur reiterated the need for government support to ensure football’s growth in Goa, emphasizing that without it, not just FC Goa, but the sport itself could suffer.

“Ultimately, the whole theme here is to make Goan football alive again. If the public is not interested in the sport, we will fail as a football club, and this will affect football across the board, not just us,” he concluded, urging collaboration among all stakeholders for the greater good of Goan football.

With the call for partnerships between football clubs and the government gaining traction, there is hope that Goa may follow the example set by other states, such as Odisha and the North East, where football development has been supported by both public and private entities.

About FC Goa

FC Goa is a professional football club based out of Goa that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL). Nicknamed the Gaurs, FC Goa have been one of the most consistently successful teams in the ISL – reaching 5 semi-finals and 2 finals in 10 seasons.

The Club also hold the record for the most goals, joint-most golden boots and most number of playoff appearances (7 in total) in the history of the league.

In 2020, FC Goa also became the first team from India to qualify for the league stages of the AFC Champions League, by virtue of winning the first-ever ISL League Winners Shield in the 2019-20 season.

The Gaurs’ trophy cabinet is further adorned by the 2019 Super Cup, the 2018-19 Goa Professional League, the 2020 Goa Police Cup and the 2021 Durand Cup.

Co-owned by Mr. Jaydev Mody, Mr. Akshay Tandon and Mr. Virat Kohli, FC Goa are one of the few Indian clubs to have a complete youth development ecosystem. Its U13, U15, U17, U19 and Developmental Teams compete at the highest levels in Goa and India.

The FC Goa Development Team won the Goa Professional League, the top-division football league in the state, in 2018-19. In 2020, they lifted the Goa Police Cup as well. The Club’s U13 and U15 teams, meanwhile, are the reigning champions of their respective age categories in the Goa Football Association (GFA) state league for the second consecutive year, highlighting the organisation’s continued success at every level.

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