IPL 2020: Patanjali Considers Bidding For Title Sponsorship After VIVO Withdrawal
The BCCI is in hunt for a new title sponsor for IPL 2020 after Chinese mobile maker VIVO pulled out of the deal, at least for the upcoming season. Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali is mulling to bid as VIVO’s replacement and may send a proposal in that regard to the Indian cricket board.
“We are considering the IPL title sponsorship for this year, since we want to give the Patanjali brand a global marketing platform,” Patanjali spokesperson SK Tijarawala told Economic Times.
Last week, ending all speculations, BCCI, in a one-sentence announcement, confirmed that the partnership with VIVO has ended. The board was reportedly receiving Rs 440 crore per year as part of their five-year contract.
The decision seems to have been taken after the call for boycotting Chinese products in wake of the deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese soldiers earlier this year.
While BCCI is prepared to take a hit on title rights with several names including Coke, Amazon, Dream11, Tata Group, Jio among others doing the rounds as potential candidates to replace VIVO.
The surprising development was described as a ‘little bit of blip’ by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly rejecting any speculation of the board dealing with a financial crisis in wake of the pull-out.
“I wouldn’t call it as a financial crisis. It’s just a little bit of a blip,” Ganguly said during a webinar on Saturday, organised by educational book publishers S Chand Group. “BCCI, it’s a very a strong foundation – the game, the players, the administrators in the past have made this game so strong that BCCI is able to handle all these blips.”
“You keep your other options open. It is like Plan A and Plan B. Sensible people do it. Sensible brands do it. Sensible corporates do it,” the former India captain added.
The 13th season of IPL gets underway from September 19 in the UAE after months of suspension due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.