Reliance, Vodafone to bid for IPL title rights

The Bidding process for the 'title sponsorship rights' of Indian Premier League (IPL)"" the Twenty20 lague promoted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) "" will be held on February 13.

Companies will have to bid above the base price of around Rs 23.6 crore for each year.

Title right is for five years and the winner also gets the first right of refusal for the next five years (6th to the 10th season of IPL). Though the tender document is free currently, interested companies will have to pay nearly Rs 4 lakh later. In addition, they will have to submit a performance guarantee deposit of Rs 10 crore prior to the bid.

The title rights will give the sponsor mileage across promotional material such as television graphics, presence on field through branding on the stumps, floodlight pylons, sightscreens, team dugouts and boundary rope. BCCI will issue tickets to the sponsor, allowing branding and promotional activities on the tickets.

Also, the sponsor can advertise in all IPL match scorecards and programmes and also will get the sponsorship of the man of the match. On the ground, the sponsor will have the right to advertise across maximum 12 boards in all the 59 matches.

BCCI Vice-President Lalit Modi said while it has been decided that the title sponsorship rights will be up for bidding, the board has not decided on whether to invite bids for associate sponsors as well.