The long and short of the unique corporate race for IPL title sponsorship

After the June border skirmish at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between the Indian and Chinese armies, the Indian Premier League had tweeted that they would review their ties with China-based companies in the future and the Governing Council meeting had discussed that in detail. While the public sentiment in India since the border tension and the subsequent ban on 59 Chinese apps by the Indian Government was anti-China, having VIVO as the title sponsor was always going to be a PR disaster for the BCCI.

Many feared it would work against the BCCI’s plan of building on the IPL’s reputation, which had already been tampered by match-fixing and the subsequent bans that were dished out after that, but since the board brought VIVO as the title sponsor, the water has flown in a different direction, with the board landing a bigger coup than expected. From the deal alone, the BCCI secured an asset of 220 crores every year, with another 220 crores being distributed among the eight franchises as a part of the revenue sharing model. It was a great luxury but that according to a few industry insiders, was almost 30% more than the figure realistically expected from the product itself.

SportsCafe understood from their discussion with a few franchise officials that the teams urged the BCCI to have a cross-table discussion with the interested parties instead of wasting time in the bidding process, especially considering the teams would fly out in less than two weeks. According to a ToI report, the deal would come to fruition by the next four-five days, allowing the boards to print their jersey well in advance.

However, the contradictions of it all leave a big question on the table - something Ness Wadia had been repeating time and again in almost all his interviews since the IPL plan has come to be. According to Wadia, this would be the most-watched IPL ever, purely because of lack of Indian cricket content in the last few months and it would make business sense for all the sponsors to be involved in India’s biggest cricketing carnival. Wadia understands the Indian market better than most of us simply because he is Ness Wadia, then why would the sponsors be reluctant to pay off?

In an ideal world, this should have meant a fierce bidding war, because Jio, Amazon and Byju’s basically run on visibility and in India, nothing guarantees them visibility as much as the Indian Premier League branding does. But the factor of minimal player engagement and the time factor to shoot for the required number of advertisements means there has been a reluctance among the corporates. That aside, the BCCI not guaranteeing them a continuation with the current price doesn’t put the bodies in a good position. 

In a week’s time, things will have their own discourse. The IPL, in all probability, will land a title sponsor before franchises board the chartered flights to the United Arab Emirates. But this much is sure - the up and down game in the advertisement industry will have a huge bearing on who gets to deliver the biggest flow of the year.