Reliance Jio Declines BCCI’s Offer Of Title Sponsorship For The IPL 2020 After Vivo’s Exit
Aug 8, 2020 at 5:18 PM
The BCCI had announced this Thursday that Vivo had withdrawn from the title sponsorship of the IPL 2020. The move from Vivo came after the rise in anti-China sentiment in the country after clashes in the Ladkah’s Galwan Valley left 20 Indian military personnel dead. The Chinese mobile companies’ backout has forced BCCI to find a new sponsor.
It is believed that on Wednesday evening, an official asked a Mumbai Indians representative present on the call about Jio’s interest in the title sponsorship of the IPL, reports the InsideSport. The Mumbai Indians representative turned down the offer saying that “they are not exploring any association like that”.
Vivo has a 2199 crore agreement in place with the IPL for the title sponsorship for five years 2018-22. BCCI reportedly earned 440 crores directly from Vivo every year, of this 50% was distributed to the franchises.
The last title sponsorship contract with PepsiCo was 454% less than the current one. The franchises are also suffering losses this term due to the postponing of the tournament.
BCCI Sends Proposals For Title Sponsorship To Big Corporates, None Show Interest
The BCCI has reportedly sent out their proposals for the IPL 2020 title sponsorship to Corporate giants but none have really shown the intent and interest for the same. The lists include PayTm, BYJU’s, etc.
“All of these companies are BCCI’s partners. They are Indian entities but we are little concerned about very strong Anti-China undercurrent. We don’t want to speculate on how people will react if any of them come on board”, said one of the BCCI official according to a report in InsideSport.
The new sponsors would definitely have the upper hand in the negotiations and it is sure that the rates will go down than the previous sponsorship. One reason also being the pandemic hit the market.
IPL to begin from September 19 in the UAE
The IPL 2020 has an ‘in principle’ approval from the Government of India to the BCCI to host it in the UAE. BCCI had earlier this week sent the teams a 16 page long SOP (Scheduled Operation Procedures) to follow before and during the tournament.
The teams have already started quarantining players and initiating Coronavirus testing protocols to comply with the rules.
The IPL 2020 will begin from September 19 till November 10, a total 53-day campaign will see all the 8 teams play in UAE.
The tournament was originally scheduled to kick off from March 29 was postponed indefinitely after April 15 due to the rising number of coronavirus cases in the nation.