CHENNAI: The top brass of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were forced into a huddle on Tuesday evening after title sponsor Vivo informed them they want to pull out of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Chinese smartphone maker gives Rs 440 crore per year in a contract running from 2018 to 2022.
This leaves the BCCI with some immediate headaches.
The IPL will be played in the UAE from September 19 to November 10. At short notice, it is almost impossible to find another sponsor who would promise that amount for one year.
The BCCI can sue Vivo for breach of contract. But the legal process may take time.
Vivo's official stand of pulling out this year and coming back to fulfil the commitment in 2021 and 2022 complicates matters further.
Although there was no announcement from Vivo, BCCI sources said that the Chinese company took this decision to avoid bad publicity. Calls to boycott Chinese products because of the border standoff in June got louder on Monday, after the IPL Governing Council announced a day earlier that all sponsors of the IPL will remain for the 2020 edition. This prompted an affiliate body of the RSS to ask the BCCI to rethink.
After having said in June that these deals will be reviewed, the Governing Council decided to carry on with the existing arrangements since there was no directive from the central government.
The BCCI's situation is unenviable.
Vivo signed a deal in 2018 to pay a sum of Rs 2199 crore over five years. Even the optimists in BCCI refuse to believe there will be a replacement willing to match the annual amount of Rs 440 crore under the prevailing circumstances, with the global economy struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the BCCI accepts Vivo’s proposal to stay away from IPL this season and come back next year and continue its contract, it would set a bad precedent. On the other hand, if the board persuades Vivo to continue, it could be accused of hurting popular sentiments, considering the outcry against the use of Chinese goods.
Apart from Vivo, IPL has seen Chinese smartphone brands Oppo, Xiaomi, Realme and OnePlus taking up prime ad slots. They spend nearly Rs 500 crore annually.
Interestingly, Duff & Phelps in 2019 had valued the IPL ecosystem at Rs 47,500 crore.