BCCI down to three IPL central sponsors after Future group opts out

Apex cricketing body talking to Unacademy and Cred, media industry sources say

The country’s apex cricketing body is racing against time to fill vacant slots in its central sponsorship pool for the Indian Premier League (IPL) after Future Group’s exit on Monday.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been left with only three central sponsors or partners, top sources have told Business Standard.

Dream11, which was an official IPL partner until last week, has had to step away, after the company bagged the title sponsorship rights for the 2020 edition of the IPL. It paid Rs 222 crore for the title sponsorship rights in a closely contested race. As an official partner, Dream 11 paid BCCI Rs 40 crore, said persons in the know.

Central sponsors are typically attached to key properties of the IPL such as umpire branding and strategic timeout. PayTM and Ceat, for instance, are the umpire and timeout partners of the T20 tournament, paying Rs 28 crore and Rs 23 crore each. Tata Motors, the third partner, is the official car partner of the tournament, forking out Rs 40 crore annually. Dream11 was the official fantasy game partner of the IPL. 

BCCI, it is reliably learnt, is talking to companies such as e-learning app Unacademy and financial services app Cred to fill two vacant central sponsorship slots. It might also look at one more partner, a gaming app, to fill the slot vacated by Dream 11, said persons in the know. IPL Commissioner Brijesh Patel was not immediately available for comments.

However, this is no easy task, as the IPL is set to begin on September 19 in the United Arab Emirates. Sponsors typically need time to handle the last-mile branding and logistics, implying that BCCI will have to close the deals by the end of this week, informed sources said.

The other challenge for BCCI is to ensure that it can cut its losses after Vivo’s dramatic exit from the IPL earlier this month. Dream 11 is paying only half of what Vivo was paying annually, which was Rs 440 crore. So, the more official partners BCCI has for the IPL the better, media industry sources said.

Title sponsorship and central sponsorship amounts are typically split between the BCCI and IPL franchisees. While the cricketing body takes half of the sponsorship amounts, both title and central, the other half of the two sponsorships is split between the eight franchisees.

The chaos on the sponsorship front was triggered by the violent standoff between Indian and Chinese soldiers in June. That led to strong anti-China protests in India, forcing Vivo, a Chinese handset brand, exit the tournament.

Ironically, Dream11, which has investment from Chinese major Tencent, did not fully address concerns of protestors, who said that it was important for the tournament to stay away from Chinese companies or those backed by Chinese investors.

Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), said the organisation would continue to protest against the BCCI’s move to “bypass” the feelings of the people.

A BCCI official, however, said Tencent’s investment in Dream11 was under 10 per cent and that the latter is an Indian firm. The company was founded by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth in 2008 in Mumbai and is credited with pioneering the fantasy gaming category in India.  

Vivo, on the other hand, might make its way back into the IPL in 2021, stitching up a new three-year deal.