The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is expected to extend the apparel rights tender deadline, which was supposed to be finalized on Tuesday, September 1, 2020, due to unspecified technical reasons.
European sports kit manufacturing giants Adidas and Puma did not come to the bidding table, despite picking the tender document last month, because they did not get the required go-ahead from their respective boards in time.
Apart from these two, Dream11's parent company Sporta Technologies Ltd, Disney - which is big in apparel sponsorships in US markets, ITW Consulting (for MyCircle11), and Universal Sports Biz - the parent company of apparel brand Wrogn, had picked up the tender documents.
The sources privy to the information cited two reasons for extension:
1. COVID-related concerns.
2. A thorough understanding of product-pricing from an India market standpoint.
IPL 2020: BCCI announces 'Unacademy' as official partner for three seasons
Nike had officially exited Indian cricket when it did not pick up the bid for the next rights cycle.
"There is interest. The BCCI has managed to figure that bit out. What the Board needs to do now is listen to how the market is responding. Not be rigid with its policies. If they can do that, there's a lot of potentials," say those tracking developments.
Puma and Adidas, it is understood, had shown "serious interest" in the property. However, the question of pricing vis-a-vis BCCI's ongoing tussle to handle matters like piracy and constructing value for partners are questions that kept playing on the minds of likely bidders.
"Honestly, the BCCI needs to take a serious look at how it builds value for its partner. Be it curbing piracy or playing a larger role in the merchandising space, pricing policies, etc. They can do much better if they want the industry to participate with Indian cricket in this space," add sources.
The base price in the tender had been scaled down by 31% and that alone may raise questions about why Tuesday's deadline had to be extended. "But let's be fair to BCCI, this is after all still COVID season," industry executives say.
The previous contract with Nike, saw the sports kit maker paying the BCCI Rs 88 lac per game along with a separate minimum guarantee of approx. Rs six crore per year.
The tender process emphasized that BCCI could accept bids from companies that are not essentially sports kit and apparel manufacturers, so long as the potential bidders guaranteed they have a back-end tie-up/arrangement with sports kit and apparel companies.
The bids were received in three categories:
a) The main logo sponsor with rights to sell replicas of the Team India jersey (sum to be put by the bidder on a per-match basis); b) Apparel partner with rights to sell fan merchandise (per-year figure); c) a combination of bucket 'a' and bucket 'b'.
(Times of India inputs)
