MUMBAI: There is nothing official about it. Yet! But With 46 days left for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League, rumours were swirling through the day that title sponsor Vivo has pulled the plug on its IPL association.
While the massive backlash on social media to a Chinese company as IPL lead sponsor was to be expected, considering the present socio-political climate in the country, there is no gainsaying the fact that if the rumours do ultimately prove true, the biggest loser from this imbroglio would be the BCCI. For there is absolutely no way the Indian cricket board would find a buyer to match the Rs 4.4 billion per annum price that the Chinese mobile giant was paying for the IPL title rights. Forget matching, even getting a sponsor to pitch in 50% of that would be a challenge, SportzPower believes.
Meanwhile, speaking to IANS, sources in the know of developments in the BCCI said that the status remains unchanged and panicking isn’t the way forward even if someone (read a North India based franchise) is feeling a financial crunch.
The BCCI official further told the newswire: “At this stage there’s no change in status. We do understand that someone (said North India based franchise) may be feeling a financial crunch at this stage but from the point of view of the BCCI, there’s no discretion to amend any contracted amount even if the market situation makes it difficult for someone (same, same). This is on account of the Supreme Court judgment.”
Said source further said: “There’s a binding contract and the same would govern the manner in which the two parties interact. See there are lot of small developments that take place on a daily basis in an organisation such as the BCCI but that doesn’t mean there’s any need to jump the gun. Someone (North India based franchise) heard some chatter (from one of the big three of the BCCI, SportzPower can confirm) and pressed the panic button somewhat prematurely. Well, these are the kind of things that give you experience.
“The bottom line is that as of now there is no change. If the situation changes, we will address it.”
Just for information’s sake the big three in the BCCI constitute board president Sourav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah (home minister Amit Shah’s son) and secretary Arun Dhumal (brother of Anurag Thakur, former board president and current minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs).
Coming back to the status of the IPL title sponsor deal, according to India Today, Vivo wants a 30-40% cut (walking away makes more sense to SportzPower as the brand is getting zero value from the sponsorship in the current climate). India Today further reports that with three years of Vivo’s contract still to run, BCCI has suggested that the smartphone major could come back as title sponsors for the 2021 edition.
What of 2020? As per India Today, BCCI could be floating a new tender soon for one-year IPL title sponsor rights.
