MUMBAI: Even as the IPL governing council on Wednesday confirmed Dream11 as the new title sponsor of the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League, rumblings of opposition were already doing the rounds.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which claims to represent 70 million traders and has been a strong votary of calls to boycott Chinese products, on Wednesday wrote to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) raising objections over the the award of IPL 2020 title sponsor rights to Dream11. Reason: Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd is a major stakeholder in the fantasy gaming platform.
Tencent Holdings had led the $100 million Series D investment round of Dream11 in 2018.
CAIT had raised similar objections to the BCCI continuing with Vivo as IPL title sponsor, which eventually led to the Chinese smartphone major, which was paying the Indian cricket board Rs 4.4 billion per annum, jettisoning its association with the world’s biggest annual T20 tournament, for the 2020 season AT LEAST (emphasis ours).
CAIT’s letter to BCCI president Sourav Ganguly reads: “We are deeply pained to note that now Dream 11 has been chosen as sponsor of IPL 2020 which has Chinese company Tencent Global as one of the major stakeholders.
“We are of the considered opinion that awarding sponsorship to Dream 11 is nothing but a bye pass route to neglect the sentiments and feelings prevailing among the people of India against China for its regular attempts to invade the interests of India.”
Aditya Verma, secretary of Cricket Association of Bihar (which BCCI does not recognise), has also chimed in, telling IANS: “As a well-wisher of Indian sports, I wish and pray that IPL 13 is held successfully in the UAE.
“However, with Dream11 becoming the title sponsor of IPL, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ will be a bit shattered as Dream11 is a Chinese company. It has also come to fore that the company has a huge investment in one of the IPL franchises (now where did that come from?).”
For the record, Dream11 was on Tuesday declared the IPL title sponsor for the 2020 season, being the highest bidder among four companies with a winning bid of Rs 2.22 billion.
The other three contenders were education technology platform Unacademy (Rs 2.10 billion bid), TATA Sons (Rs 1.80 billion) and online tutoring unicorn BYJU’S (Rs 1.25 billion). Incidentally, among the other three bidders, BYJU’S also has Chinese investments so would potentially be ruled out of the reckoning.
In any case BYJU’S, having made the lowest bid, would be out of the running in the event that the BCCI bows to the “patriotic pressure” and opts out of signing on the dotted line with Dream11. One might still see Unacademy or even the TATA Group come up trumps in the final reckoning.
After all, when the BCCI had floated its ‘Expression of interest’ for the IPL 2020 title sponsorship, it had been clarified that it would not be obliged to award the title rights to the highest bidder.
To quote dierctly from clause 8 of the Invitation for Expressions of Interest (“IEOI”) for IPL Title Sponsorship Rights for 2020: “For the avoidance of doubt, it is clarified that BCCI shall not be obliged to award the Rights to the third party which indicates willingness to pay the highest fees in the course of discussions/ negotiations with BCCI after submitting an EOI. BCCI’s decision in this regard will also depend on a number of other relevant factors, including but not limited to, the manner in which the third party intends to exploit the Rights and the potential impact of the same on brand IPL as also the fan/ viewer experience, which will be examined/ evaluated by BCCI in the course of discussions/ negotiations with interested third parties who submit an EOI.”
BCCI confirms Dream11 as IPL 2020 title sponsor
BCCI’s statement issued Wednesday in full:
The IPL governing council has announced Dream11 as the new title sponsor of the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Dream11 (Sporta Technologies Pvt. Ltd) is an Indian company (emphasis ours) based in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Dream11’s association with sports has grown over the years and it is presently partnering a total of 19 sports leagues along with 6 Indian Premier League franchises.
Brijesh Patel, chairman, IPL, said: “We welcome Dream11 on board as title sponsor for the 2020 edition of the IPL. Dream11 upgrading their association from an Official Partner to title sponsors is a great testament to the brand IPL. Dream11 as a fantasy sports brand will only grow the engagement of the IPL with its fans. As a digital brand it will give them leverage to create exciting online engagement for fans sitting at home and watching the matches. We look forward to delivering great value to Dream11.”
Harsh Jain, CEO & co-founder, Dream Sports (Dream11) said: “The launch of IPL in 2008 gave birth to the idea of Dream11. As avid sports fans, we wanted to offer fantasy cricket to IPL fans to help them further engage with the sport they love and showcase their sports knowledge & skill.
“Being a proud homegrown Indian brand that is made in India, by Indians and exclusively for Indian sports fans, we would like to thank the BCCI for giving us an opportunity to become the title sponsor of IPL, which in our opinion is the world’s greatest sports property.
“We believe that ‘Dream11 IPL’ also perfectly defines what IPL is all about: every team fielding its Dream11 team culminating in the IPL finals determining The Dream11. We are happy to continue building our partnership with BCCI & IPL to further promote sports fan engagement in India, and look forward to 10 Crore+ Indians making their Dream11 for every Dream11 IPL match.”
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