The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not made a final decision regarding their title sponsor for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League. The mobile company brand Vivo is currently associated with the cash-rich league, but the political tension between India and China might lead them to terminate the deal.
According to a report on Cricbuzz, IPL will carry the name of the mobile company brand as its title sponsor till at least the mini players’ auction which is scheduled to take place on February 18.
“We have been told that it will be called Vivo IPL till the auction as per the original agreement. The previous agreement was paused only till December 31 last year. So the original agreement has kicked in on January 1. Till an alternative arrangement has been made, the brand name will remain,” said a franchise official.
Another official added, “The BCCI is going by the book and is extending all the benefits to Vivo. It is now up to Vivo. Whether or not it is interested, it still will have to pay up.”
After an Indo-China standoff at Galwan valley last year, BCCI decided to do away with VIVO keeping in mind the public sentiments. Following that, popular betting platform Dream11 had bagged the IPL title sponsorship rights for the 2020 edition for Rs 222 crore. The amount was nearly half (Rs 440 crore) of what Vivo was paying annually for a five-year deal.
The BCCI has referred to Vivo as their title sponsor in their IPL Auction list press release on Thursday.
The cricket board also stated that all the IPL franchises have to spend 75 percent of the total salary cap of Rs 85 crore in the auction ceremony on February 18.
“Franchisees are reminded of the IPL squad rules with respect to a minimum (18) and maximum (25) squad size, minimum squad spend (Rs 63.75 crores) and the maximum number of overseas players in the squad (8) which are referred to in Sections A and E of the Player Regulations.” the BCCI said in a letter to the teams outlining the auction rules.
The board will take Rs 3.75 crore from the franchise, which failed Rs 60 crore on buying the players for IPL 2021.