The contending for the succession of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020’s title sponsorship has begun among several major brands expressing their engrossment in becoming the main sponsor.
Unacademy, a education technology company, which is already one of the IPL’s sponsors is looking forward to grab the league’s title sponsorship rights now.
Vivo, which annually paid Rs 440 core, dropped out as title sponsor this year due to Sino-India border stand-off.
The BCCI is now discerning a lesser value – between Rs 300 to 350 crore – for a period of four month and 13 days. A BCCI official affirmed that Unacademy has picked up the bid papers but refrained from making any comments beyond that.
“I can confirm that unacademy has shown interest and picked the bid papers. I have heard they will be submitting a bid and are pretty serious. So Patanjali, if they bid, will have competition,” the senior official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
The official said Unacademy is a part of IPL’s central sponsorship pool with other companies like Dream11 and Paytm.
“Yes, Unacademy is already in IPL’s central sponsors’ pool from 2020 to 2023,” the BCCI official said.
The BCCI has invited EoIs for title sponsorship rights for this year’s IPL that is set to start on September 19. The EoIs have to be submitted by August 14 and the final bids by August 18. Last week, the BCCI and Vivo decided to suspend their partnership for IPL 2020. The title sponsorship is a big part of IPL’s commercial revenue, half of which is shared equally by the franchises.
Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for ₹2,190 crore, which works out to about ₹440 crore per annum. According to analysts, BCCI is unlikely to get anything close to that amount from the new sponsor and should consider Unacademy’s proposal.
“Unlike some of the other Edu-Tech apps, Unacademy has 100 per cent Indian investment. And four and half months is the perfect time to get associated with a brand like IPL and broaden their horizons in terms of brand outreach,” the source close to the development said.