Oppo wins sponsorship rights for Team India in record bid

On a day the Indian cricket team made a fighting comeback to level the test series with Australia, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Tuesday Chinese handset maker Oppo as its sponsor for five years.

Effective April 1, Oppo’s logo will figure on the jerseys of the senior, junior and women’s teams and training gears. For this, Oppo forked out Rs 1,080 crore or Rs 4.61 crore per bilateral match and Rs 1.56 crore for an ICC tournament match. 

This is the highest bid ever for Team India sponsorship, surpassing Sahara’s estimated Rs 700-crore deal for 12-year sponsorship. Star India, Team India’s sponsor for the last three years, had paid around Rs 203 crore or Rs 1.92 crore per bilateral match and Rs 61 lakh per ICC match. Star’s contract will end on March 31.

Speaking to Business Standard, BCCI’s CEO Rahul Johri said nine companies had bought tender documents last week, of which only two  - Oppo and Vivo - had submitted bids. 

“At base price, which was set at Rs 2.2 crore per bilateral match and Rs 70 lakh for an ICC match, BCCI would have earned Rs 538 crore. Oppo’s bid is twice that, indicating the value that the Team India sponsorship brings to the table,” Johri said.  

The companies that had picked up the tender document included DBS Bank, Star, Paytm, Hero, GroupM and event companies DNA and Encompass, besides Oppo and Vivo. Reliance Jio, whose name initially figured as one of the potential bidders for the Team India sponsorship, had not picked up the tender document. At the same time, Star, which had said earlier that it would not re-bid for the sponsorship rights, decided to pick up the tender document in the end, it is learnt.

For Oppo, coming in as a Team India sponsor will mean visibility in 259 international matches that India will play between June 2017 and March 2022. This will include events like the World Cup in England in 2019 and the World T20 in Australia in 2020. In all, India is expected to play 14 series at home and over 20 abroad, implying Oppo could gain much mileage in the process.

Sky Lee, global vice-president & president, Oppo Mobiles India, said, “Cricket in India isn’t just a sport, it is also a way of life. We aim at reaching new heights alongside the Indian cricket team with our sponsorship.”

“For an advertiser, being on the jersey of the Indian cricket team lends enormous credibility and heft,” Hitesh Gossain, founder and CEO of brand sponsorship firm Onspon, said. “Which is why it is a prized asset and has seen such an aggressive bid (by Oppo).”