On Wednesday, a senior BCCI official said that the Indian cricket board might not opt to cancel sponsorship of the IPL title sponsors VIVO if the “exit clause” favors the brand. However, the official bared himself from revealing when the event’s much-hyped governing council meeting will be taking place to review this will be held.
As per the quotes in PTI, a senior BCCI official said, “Yes, we need to discuss sponsorship but we never used the word cancel or terminate. We said we will review sponsorship. Review means that we need to check all the modalities of the contract. If the ‘Exit Clause’ favors VIVO more, why should we terminate a ₹440 crore per year contract? We will only terminate if the ‘Exit Clause’ favors us.”
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The recent reports have suggested that some BCCI officials have opined that unless VIVO decides to terminate the contract in the current circumstances, the board should complete the current contract which will be ending in 2022. Sudden termination of the contract will result in a substantial loss for the BCCI. Also, there is no guarantee that the board will get a new sponsor in such an economically hostile environment.
However, some other brands like PayTM (with Alibaba as an investor) or Dream XI, BYJUs, and SWIGGY, who have investors from China, might not have to worry as they are Indian entities.
However, after nearly two weeks, a meeting is yet to be scheduled and in fact, some GC members confirmed to PTI that they have not been told anything.
Talking to PTI one of the GC members said, “I have called the IPL chairman (Brijesh Patel) and CEO (Rahul Johri) after I saw the tweet. But to date, I haven’t been intimated about any meeting. Possibly, they want to have a big meeting once the T20 World Cup is officially postponed.”
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These are early days but one of the senior officials in IPL GC has floated the idea of “one city only tournament” in October, provided the COVID-19 situation is under control in Mumbai.
In Mumbai, there are three grounds where IPL games have played — the Wankhede Stadium, Brabourne Stadium, and DY Patil (Navi Mumbai). Also, there is a Reliance ground in Ghansoli, which is one of the best-maintained in Mumbai where MI have their pre-season camps.
