| If Bisleri wins the beverage sponsorship, that will be announced later this week, it will be first time in the recent years that the Indian cricket team will gets a domestic beverage sponsor. International cola majors PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have been dominating the cricket landscape for more than two decades. The search is also on for the three prime sponsors for 55 BCCI international matches to be played in India till March 2010. Sports marketing agency, World Sport Group, which has won the bid for ground and title naming rights for Rs 173.25 crore will select the pouring or beverage sponsor as well as the other three sponsors. |
| Major financial institutions, including those associated with banking services, are reportedly in the running for key sponsorship slots. |
| "We are in talks with companies from the fields of telecom, banking, white goods, automobiles and two-wheelers. The total sponsorship amount from the four sponsors would be $50 million or a little over Rs 204 crore," said Venu Nair, chief executive, South Asia, WSG. However, he refused to divulge any names. |
| Post selection of sponsors, it will be decided if the sponsorship rights would be divided between the three prime sponsors over number of matches. The other option will be to give each sponsor display rights for a year. |
| This is the first time that BCCI has gone for a tendering process for selling the ground and title rights, and it is also the first time that a sports management agency, rather than a corporate has won the contract, said Nair. |
| "Giving ground and title rights to an agency would ensure correct evaluation of the events. Moreover, it is not a corporate's job or core competency to hunt for other co-sponsors. A corporate sponsor could also have a bias towards its own associates or group companies, leading to incorrect evaluation," Nair explained. |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard