MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India has issued a ban on Indian Premier League franchises striking sponsorship deals with cryptocurrency exchanges, till such time as the Indian government brings a regulation in place for the sector.
As per a report in the Economic Times, two franchises revealed they had been approached by major cryptocurrency exchanges over sponsorship deals ahead of IPL 2022. However, the negotiations had to be stalled after BCCI’s diktat over crypto. The board has asked all teams and the media right holders to avoid signing any sponsorship deals with crypto exchanges.
“It’s a major opportunity loss. The kind of money they were offering for the main sponsorship was 1.5 times of what the current sponsor is paying. They wanted to build their brand with our association and were ready to pay for that,” an executive of one of the IPL franchises, who were offered a deal by a crypto exchange company, was quoted as saying by ET.
While the franchises often have the freedom to sort out their sponsorship deals on their own, BCCI doesn’t want to hurry on the decision with the Central government in the process of finalising a crypto bill to regulate the sector. A BCCI insider told the pink paper that the matter was political in nature.
“While the members of the IPL governing council may not have an issue with cryptocurrency exchanges advertising, it’s a matter of optics. BCCI secretary Jay Shah is the son of the Union home minister, and the Central government is in the process of bringing a crypto bill in the upcoming winter session of parliament. Till there is some clarity, he may not be seen allowing crypto ads,” the BCCI source told ET.
Opportunity loss it certainly is, what with major crypto players having been handed sponsorship deals by the International Cricket Council during the recently-concluded T20 World Cup 2021. Crypto exchanges like ConSwitch and CoinDCX reportedly spent over Rs 500 million in sponsorship deals, as per ET.
