Chinese smart phone maker Vivo Mobiles has been awarded the title sponsorship of the IPL for 2016 and 2017. Vivo has to provide a bank guarantee in 10 days’ time. Clearly, the BCCI felt that there was no need to float an Invitation To Tender for the title sponsorship as Pepsi had the rights to transfer the agreement to another group.
Vivo has replaced the American beverage major Pepsi which withdrew from the sponsorship it had signed with the BCCI for five years (2013-17) for a sum of Rs. 396.8 crore. According to sources, BCCI would receive a little more than Rs. 80 crore for 2016 and 2017 each from Vivo. After failing to become a franchisee owner in 2008, DLF won the first five-year sponsorship for Rs. 200 crore.
“BCCI and PepsiCo have had a long-standing cordial relationship. After our discussions it has been mutually agreed that Pepsi will transfer its IPL title rights to Vivo Mobile India. Pepsi has been associated with cricket in India for the last 25 years and we immensely value its contribution to the success of our brands. We will continue to associate with sports and cricket as a platform to connect with our consumers. We congratulate Vivo Mobiles and wish them good luck,’’ said Vipul Prakash, vice-president, beverages category, PepsiCo India.
In another sponsorship rearrangement, the BCCI will receive Rs. 1 crore per match from apparel maker Nike. The BCCI press release said that the Nike contract as official apparel sponsor of the Indian team has been extended. People in the know of the marketing aspects of the BCCI said Nike was paying around Rs. 85 lakh before and that the crease is around 20 per cent.
With some cheerful news coming on the revenue front, the BCCI has decided to augment the subvention money for the 25 full members for 2014-15 by disbursing half of the compensation money received as a consequence of the Champions League T20 being scrapped by the Boards of India, South Africa and Australia.
The Working Committee was told that half of the compensation money of Rs. 617 crore (Rs. 308.5 crore) would go to the affiliated members. “The members were to receive Rs. 18 crore (from television subvention and IPL money) for 2014-15. Now the CLT20 compensation will make it Rs. 30 crore for the 25 full members,” said an official.
Increased allotmentIt has also been proposed to increase the infrastructure allotment from Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 60 crore and with an additional provision of Rs. 20 crore as loan without interest.
After his election as president of the BCCI on October 4, Manohar had announced that he would put in place a system to monitor the use of money by the members.
The BCCI has appointed M/s. PricewaterhouseCoopers, which according to a member, will only scrutinise the audited accounts of the State associations. The members were told that they would receive Rs. 13.5 crore straightaway and Rs. 4.5 crore after the scrutiny by the independent agency.
The working committee was also told that the West Indies Cricket Board has expressed its inability to pay a compensation of $42 million the BCCI claimed from it after Dwayne Bravo’s team returned home midway through the series last year following a pay dispute with its Board.
The house was told that a full West Indies would play a series in India some time in 2017 to make up for the compensation claimed.
