<p>I-League club Bengaluru FC organised a first ever ‘supporters huddle’ at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Saturday with a view to increasing the fan base. <br /><br />BFC, who will be playing their league games next season at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, had a meeting with the club’s fans and welcomed ideas for increasing the attendance on match days and forming a registered fan club among other things. </p>.<p><br />BFC, who have indicated a preference to playing under lights at the Kanteerava Stadium, need at least 15,000 fans on average per match day to make playing under lights a feasible option. Given their current average is about 8,000, they need a massive jump at the turnstiles to even entertain the notion of being sustainable while playing under lights.<br /> <br />Playing at the Bangalore Football Stadium will not be possible as it will undergo a massive renovation to be ready for the 2017 Under-17 World Cup. Some of the ideas that were mooted to meet the figure was to advertise the club more – in cinema halls, billboards and on buses.</p>.<p><br />The club, who arranged free buses to fans during away matches at the business end of the last season, also spoke about the prospect of a registered fan club which will come with benefits to the members. </p>.<p><br />“We (the club and us) spoke about the possibility of a registered fan club,” one fan, who went to the meeting, said. “The benefits would be preferences for tickets, free bus tickets for away days and so on. The club is in the process of creating an official fan club. <br /><br />The club also conceded that getting crowds in the evenings on weekends might be a problem because of the English Premier League, which is huge in this part of India.<br />The club might also trial fan oriented match days – like BFC days – to attract more fans. The club are also in the process of bringing out a new line of merchandise as they try to amp up their marketability.</p>
<p>I-League club Bengaluru FC organised a first ever ‘supporters huddle’ at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Saturday with a view to increasing the fan base. <br /><br />BFC, who will be playing their league games next season at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, had a meeting with the club’s fans and welcomed ideas for increasing the attendance on match days and forming a registered fan club among other things. </p>.<p><br />BFC, who have indicated a preference to playing under lights at the Kanteerava Stadium, need at least 15,000 fans on average per match day to make playing under lights a feasible option. Given their current average is about 8,000, they need a massive jump at the turnstiles to even entertain the notion of being sustainable while playing under lights.<br /> <br />Playing at the Bangalore Football Stadium will not be possible as it will undergo a massive renovation to be ready for the 2017 Under-17 World Cup. Some of the ideas that were mooted to meet the figure was to advertise the club more – in cinema halls, billboards and on buses.</p>.<p><br />The club, who arranged free buses to fans during away matches at the business end of the last season, also spoke about the prospect of a registered fan club which will come with benefits to the members. </p>.<p><br />“We (the club and us) spoke about the possibility of a registered fan club,” one fan, who went to the meeting, said. “The benefits would be preferences for tickets, free bus tickets for away days and so on. The club is in the process of creating an official fan club. <br /><br />The club also conceded that getting crowds in the evenings on weekends might be a problem because of the English Premier League, which is huge in this part of India.<br />The club might also trial fan oriented match days – like BFC days – to attract more fans. The club are also in the process of bringing out a new line of merchandise as they try to amp up their marketability.</p>
