Dream11, market leaders in fantasy gaming space will be the title sponsors of the Indian Premier League (IPL) when it is staged in UAE this year. Dream11 were awarded the rights for Rs 222 crore – a heavy discount of nearly 50 percent of what Vivo were paying for the same rights (Rs 440 crore).
“In the given circumstances, we are happy with the deal. These rights are only for four months and only for this edition of the IPL,” IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel said.
Patel confirmed that Dream11 outbid two other bidders, both edu tech platforms – Byju’s (Rs 201 crore) and Unacademy (Rs 171 crore). It is learnt Tata group were the other company to express interest.
Earlier, Chinese smartphone makers Vivo, who had agreed to pick the IPL title rights for a whopping Rs 2199 crore for five years, 2018 onwards, decided to suspend their partnership with the BCCI mutually. “The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020,” a BCCI statement on August 6 read.
Although no reason was spelt out by both the parties, it is understood the prevailing anti-China sentiment in the country meant Vivo did not see business sense in continuing the deal and advertise heavily this year.
