The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) received an INR 440 crore setback as Chinese mobile maker VIVO opted out of the league’s title sponsorship for this season. With the BCCI now in the hunt for a new sponsor, a report states that the board is looking to raise a total of INR 300 crore from new sponsors in the coming days, having increased the number of sponsorship partners from three to five.
The two additional partners would allow the BCCI to have two sponsors worth Rs. 40 crore each. The big money, in excess of Rs. 200 crore, will come from the title sponsorship for which the likes of Amazon, Byju’s, Dream11, Unacademy and a few other brands are reportedly in the race.
As per a report in the Times of India, the BCCI could also surprise everyone by landing a totally different title sponsor in comparison to the brands that are being talked about right now.
“There’s chatter about Amazon, Byju’s, Dream 11 being in the race. But expect BCCI to spring a surprise,” say these monitoring developments.
VIVO decided to withdraw from IPL 2020 title sponsorship following the negative sentiment that had built among people amid the Indo-China political tensions. The mobile maker’s exit put a big hole in BCCI’s pockets, stitching which wouldn’t be fully possible for the Indian board. But, “it is now a matter of prestige for India Inc to show that its most valuable property – Indian cricket – can sustain”.
The biggest question in the Indian cricketing fraternity keeping the current situation in mind is: “can that kind of money be raised in a year devastated by Covid?”
