West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is slated to inaugurate the tournament that will conclude on December 20, while Bollywood heartthrob Priyanka Chopra will set the stage on fire along with Varun Dhawan in a 45-minute opening ceremony that would begin at 5pm.
As the league is co-promoted by IMG Reliance and Star India and has some high-profile owners and brand ambassadors from both Bollywood and cricketing world, the opening ceremony guarantees to be a fun-filled affair.
"Tell me who won't be there? We will have Amitabh, Abhishek, Salman, Ranbir then Sachin, Dhoni and the king of kings Sourav Ganguly. The stars will descend on Kolkata. The honourable CM will inaugurate the tournament. It will be an out of the world experience," Atletico de Kolkata co-owner Utsav Parekh told PTI.
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There will also be a host of top notch industrialists including Mukesh and Nita Ambani of the Reliance Industries Limited, Munjals (Hero Motocorp), Dani (Asian Paints) and Salgaocars who will grace the occasion along with Praful Patel, president of the All India Football Federation that is supporting the tournament.
Selling tickets at a throw-away price of Rs 200, the city franchise is confident of a sell-out crowd at the gigantic 120,000 capacity stadium in Salt Lake.
"It's very difficult to offer such quality football at such a price but we have managed to bring it down and offer the spectators wholesome entertainment. We are confident of pulling it off," the investment banker said adding that they have already sold 5700 tickets online.
If one buys tickets for the first six matches the seventh match will be offered free.