The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Tuesday, announced Dream11, India’s biggest sports game, as the Official Title Sponsor for the upcoming 13th season of Indian Premier League (IPL).
IPL chairman Brijesh Patel said that Dream11 made the highest bid for title sponsorship at Rs 222 crores, News agency ANI reported. Dream11 will hold the sponsorship rights for four months and 13 days.
The next best bids were as follows: Unacademy (210 crores), Tatas (180 crores) and Byju’s (125 crores). Notably, the sponsorship amount would almost be 50% of what was earlier paid by Chinese smartphone maker VIVO which had pulled out as title sponsor. VIVO had won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.
Talking about Dream11, they are already a big spender on cricket. They are associated with at least six IPL teams and also with the International Cricket Council (ICC). The fantasy gaming app gets funding from Chinese company Tencent but as per the media reports their bid this time was fuelled by a major Indian telecom major.
When the BCCI asked for bids for the IPL 2020 title rights last week, it had clearly said, “For the avoidance of doubt, it is clarified that BCCI shall not be obliged to award the Rights to the third party which indicates a 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.”
The IPL will take place from September 19 to November 10 in the UAE this year.
