BCCI Gets No Bids for Kit and Apparel Sponsorship Despite Lower Base Price: Report

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) found no bidders for the Indian cricket team's apparel and kit despite the base price being lower than the existing price.

A report in the Mumbai Mirror claimed that at least four bidders were in fray – Adidas, Puma and FanCode and existing sponsors Nike. But none of them offered up a bid despite the fact that the relatively favourable conditions on offer.

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Nike was paying the BCCI Rs 85 lakh for every international game of Team India but they chose not to renew their contract that was actually set to run up to August-end, leading the board to invite bids.

However, Indian cricket now finds itself in unchartered territory of not having a sponsor for the kit when the Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team touch down in Australia in November. The base price was reportedly Rs 65 lakh per game.

The Mirror report further added that the companies - none of whom actually came on the record - wanted a guarantee of some kind of promotion for their brands. The BCCI, however, did not give any guarantees for the same.

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As a result, the companies decided not to bid for the property. Often there would be instances of the bids being offered for even less than the base price but this time, even that was not happening.

This leaves the board with only two options - invite further bids at a lower base price or go on tour to Australia without any kit sponsors. They are yet to publicly comment on the process.