CHENNAI: Come September 15, inaugural Jharkhand T20 League will become the first live cricket event to be held in India since lockdown. Being organised by the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) with TCM Sports Management as the official partner, the event will partner with brands associated with the Indian Premier League.
Dream-11, IPL title sponsor this season, has been announced as 'powered by partner' of the league. Other than Dream-11, the JSCA along with TCM on Friday announced Karbonn Smartphones as title sponsor of the league. Besides, multi-sports aggregator platform FanCode will be live streaming all the 33 matches of the league.
Given the pandemic-induced lockdown and the serious repercussions it had on the economy, the association of national brands with a state T20 league might look surprising but TCM felt the opportunity was right for brands to reconnect with their audience.
"Cricket as a sport has great power of reach and it connects with audiences across India," Basant Dhawan, TCM's chief executive officer, told this daily. "We offered various on-ground high-impact branding elements to sponsors and that helped us in signing them. In fact, the brands have also been waiting for opportunities to create engagement with their consumers and audiences. The league is one of the first live cricket events in the country hence brands were quite interested to offer sponsorship."
The league will have six teams representing six different zones of the state. All matches including the final, which is scheduled on October 2, will be held at Ranchi's JSCA International Stadium Complex. The organisational part of the league will be handled by the Jharkhand association and its secretary Sanjay Sahay is confident that they will be able to conduct the event successfully.
"We have set up various committees to deal with issues that might crop up due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Players, support staff and other stakeholders will be allowed in only after submitting Covid-19 negative test report, which should not be older than 24 hours on arrival."
The JSCA and TCM also plan to make the league an annual affair. "We have strong marketing plans even in the inaugural year including radio, outdoor and lot of digital promotion to catch the eyeballs. This will only grow in years to come to make the league a successful annual affair," said Dhawan.