'Super League Kerala viewership for rest of India was four times more than in Kerala'

The inaugural season of Super League Kerala had a wider acceptance with the majority of viewership based outside Kerala, said Mathew Joseph, CEO of the league.
"The response has been phenomenal, both from within Kerala and beyond. The viewership (on Star Sports) for the rest of India was four times more than from within Kerala," Joseph told Onmanorama.

According to Joseph, the average viewership (across platforms) was 6 to 7 lakh per match. "It will be higher when the Hotstar numbers come up," he said. "The numbers show there was great appetite for the league across the country. The response from the Middle East was also good as the matches were on Manorama Max as well. There were also viewers in some other pockets like Spain," Joseph said.

Stadium crowd better than ISL?
The Super League Kerala matches were played at four venues -- Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi, EMS Corporation Stadium in Kozhikode, Payyanad Stadium in Manjeri and Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram. League sources placed the average spectatorship at 13,000, with the Manjeri venue drawing the most. "Two teams did not have home grounds so there was a dip in spectatorship when Kannur played in Calicut and Thrissur played in Malappuram (their home matches). Otherwise, I think the average spectatorship was better than that in the ISL (Indian Super League)," Joseph said. "Next season, we will add another venue in Kannur," he added. Super League Kerala season 2 is likely to remain within the September-December period.

Next season: Not bigger, but better
Super League Kerala will stick to the six-franchise system for its second season as well. (Calicut FC, Kannur Warriors, Malappuram FC, Thiruvananthapuram Kombans, Forca Kochi and Thrissur Magic were the franchises). However, "We would like to have more of a gap between the matches. Ideally, there should be a few days' gap so that the teams can prepare various things, including ticket sales. But we can't stretch it too long either," Joseph said. Actors Prithviraj Sukumaran and Asif Ali co-own the Kochi and Kannur franchises respectively.

On planning for next season: "This season, we hardly had 60 days between the franchise launch and the league launch. But we will have eight months to build next season," Joseph said.

'Player analytics' and VAR
Joseph said the league explored the possibility of having the video assistant referee (VAR) system for the inaugural season but could not implement it as it was not cost-effective. "But we will have another technology for next season, based on player analytics. We will have real-time data on individual performances," Joseph said.

The league that began on September 7 has entered the last phase. Calicut FC will host Thiruvananthapuram Kombans in the first semifinal on November 5 while Forca Kochi and Kannur Warriors will lock horns the next day. Both matches, to kick off at 7.30 pm, will be played at the EMS Corporation Stadium in Kozhikode. The same venue will host the final on November 10.