The Indian Premier League (IPL) title sponsorship has been a cause of concern for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) since last year. After Chinese smartphone maker, VIVO, pulled out of the league sponsorship just weeks before the start of the IPL 2020 season, the league is still without a title sponsor.
While it has been known for a while that the return of VIVO is unlikely amid the continuous political strain between India and China, it has now been reported that the mobile-maker is all but set to exit, paving way for a new sponsor.
As far as the new title sponsors are concerned, the names of edu-tech platform Unacademy and fantasy sports platform Dream11 are afloat. Dream11 had sponsored the T20 league last season as well after VIVO’s last-minute withdrawal.
As per a report in Outlook, VIVO is looking to transfer the remainder of its contract to another brand as it is unable to honour the agreement due the Indo-China political situation.
“With Indo-China relationship unlikely to get better anytime soon, Vivo clearly wants to ‘assign’ their rights to any company willing to pay a fair price,” said the source.
A BCCI official also commented on the matter. Speaking to PTI, the official said that VIVO’s exit is all but confirmed and is looking to transfer its pending liabilities.
“It’s almost final that Vivo will exit the IPL title sponsorship deal by mutual consent with the board. It was suspended for the 2020 edition. However, there is a clause that allows them to transfer their pending liabilities as one-time title sponsors on the new winner. If board agrees on principle, it can happen.”
“Dream11 and Unacademy will place their offers to Vivo. Unacademy in any case is an associate sponsor and they are ready to offer a higher amount in order to acquire the rights from Vivo,” an industry insider told the news agency.
Another name that has surfaced for title sponsorship is MPL but it would not be allowed to bid for the title sponsorship as its direct rival, Dream11, has been a title sponsor.
The scarcity of time could also see the BCCI avoid taking fresh bids for the title sponsorship and instead bank on the transfer of rights from VIVO to a new brand that could fetch them the same amount that the smartphone brand was obliged to pay.
“Look, Vivo paid approximately ₹440 crore ( ₹2190 crore for 5 years). Now if BCCI invites bids, just like last year when Dream11 paid ₹222 crore, it might increase but can’t be doubled. But if there is a transfer of rights, the old amount could be matched or even bettered,” the source said.
The BCCI is reportedly looking to wrap-up the entire deal quickly but as things stand, the VIVO logo will be used at the IPL 2021 auction in Chennai.
