- Fantasy sports website Dream11 bags IPL 2020 title sponsorship rights with signing an Rs. 222-crore contract with BCCI on Tuesday.
Fantasy sports website Dream11 bags IPL 2020 title sponsorship rights with signing an Rs. 222-crore contract with BCCI on Tuesday.
Vivo backed out of the Indian Premier League 2020, which is scheduled to begin at the UAE from 19 September.
Fantasy sports platform Dream11 wins IPL title sponsorship rights with a bid of Rs.222 crores: Brijesh Patel, IPL Chairman, told PTI. Dream11 retains the rights for 4 months and 13 days.
Dream11 won the rights for Rs 222 crore. Apart from Dream11, other bidders included Unacademy (Rs 210 crore), Tata Group (Rs 180 crore) and Byju’s (Rs 125 crore).
Tata Group, Unacademy an educational technology firm, was also in the fray for the rights, but Dream11 outbid them.
This year the IPL will take place at the UAE from September 19 to November 10. This year, due to the Sino-India border stand-off, Vivo, who paid an average of 440 crore annually, dropped out as title sponsor.
Dream11 is already an effective cricket spender. They are linked to at least six IPL teams and to the International Cricket Council as well. Chinese corporation Tencent is funding the fantasy cricket league site, but sources say their offer was fueled this time by a big Indian telecom giant.
Last week, when the BCCI requested bids for the IPL 2020 title rights, it had clearly stated: “For the avoidance of doubt, it is clarified that BCCI will not be obliged to grant the rights to third parties that indicate a willingness to pay the highest fees in discussions/negotiations with BCCI after submitting an EOI.
The board said the involved third party’s revenue must be over 300 crores as per the last accounts audited.
Tata Sons, Reliance Jio, Patanjali, Dream 11, Byju’s, and Unacademy expressed interest in bidding for the title sponsorship rights for IPL 2020.
Vivo had secured the rights to the IPL title for a term of five years up to 2022. Under the contract, Vivo agreed to pay the board about 2,190 crores per season, or about 440 crores. However, one day after it was announced that IPL 2020 would be played in the UAE due to Covid-19, the BCCI was criticized for allowing a Chinese company to be the league’s title sponsor in the wake of the border dispute between the two nations.
