Multinational conglomerate Tata Group has been showing keen interest in becoming the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL), as they have joined education technology company Unacademy and fantasy sports platform Dream11 in picking the bidding document. Friday was the last date of submission of ‘EOI’ to the BCCI. The IPL 2020 will be taking place between September 19 and November 10 in the UAE and the winning bidder will hold the rights for four months and 13 days.
The bidding war has become interesting now after Tata Group’s entry as BCCI is expecting that the winning bid will not be much lower than Vivo’s ₹440 crores annual contract even though the rights period is of short duration.
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Talking about the same, spokesperson of Tata during a chat with PTI said, “Yes, Tata Group has submitted their Expression of Interest to buy IPL title rights. The EOI doesn’t have to mention the bid amount. It will be sent on August 18. Post the delivery of the EOI, BCCI shall inform the rights, product categories, and entitlements to the interested third parties. The final bid should be sent to [email protected] between 11 am to 1 pm on August 18, 2020.”
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali and Jio Communications have also reported having picked the bidding documents but no immediate confirmation was forthcoming from the BCCI on these two names. The Board clarified the highest bidder might not get the title sponsorship unless the parent body is satisfied with its plan for the high-valued brand.
Explaining the same, the BCCI official had said, “A lot of times, some unknown organizations can bid insanely, and then you might find there are questions regarding their credibility. Also what if a company, with sizeable Chinese investment, bids? Then the whole postponement of partnership with Vivo will look very stupid.”
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Vivo and BCCI sever ties for the upcoming edition of the IPL due to the prevailing Sino-India border stand-off. Anything in the range of Rs 300 to Rs 350 crore will be a victory for the BCCI in a hostile economic climate caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
