BCCI-Vivo yet to come to an agreement over IPL 2021 sponsorship rights

Vivo had backed out of IPL title sponsorship in 2020 after India-China border clash.

Dream11 was the IPL title sponsor last year | BCCI/IPLChinese mobile phone company Vivo, which had paused its association with the BCCI for the 2020 edition of IPL, hasn’t taken a final call yet on title sponsorship for the upcoming season of the league.

While the BCCI named Vivo as the title sponsor in their IPL Auction list press release on Thursday (February 11), the two parties are yet to come to an agreement.

According to a Cricbuzz report, the IPL will carry the name of Vivo as its title sponsor till at least the auction, scheduled for February 18 in Chennai.

See Also: 292 players set to go under the hammer in the VIVO IPL auction

"We have been told that it will be called Vivo IPL till the auction as per the original agreement. The previous agreement was paused only till December 31 last year. So the original agreement has kicked in from January 1. Till an alternative arrangement has been made, the brand name will remain," a franchise official quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

"The BCCI is going by the book and is extending all the benefits to Vivo. It is now up to Vivo. Whether or not it is interested, it still will have to pay up," another official added.

The report further says that Vivo is looking to transfer the IPL title rights to interested bidders and has engaged its media agency, Group M, to find a suitable party. The deal would be such that the BCCI would have to be paid Rs 440 crore per season and should the new party offer less than that, Vivo would have to top it up to fulfill the agreement.

Vivo had decided to exit as title sponsor in IPL 2020 after rising anti-China sentiments in India post Galwan Valley clash last year.

Dream11 was the IPL title sponsor last year, winning the rights for ₹222 crore, which was nearly half (₹440 crore) of what Vivo was paying annually for a five-year deal.

However, the Cricbuzz report suggests that the fantasy game company is not interested to come on board again.

(Inputs from Cricbuzz)

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 13 Feb, 2021

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