BCCI announces TATA as IPL title sponsor

The Indian business conglomerate replaces Vivo.

Chinese mobile manufacturer Vivo has been replaced by one of India’s largest business conglomerates, Tata Group, as the Indian Premier League’s title sponsor following an IPL Governing Council meeting held on January 11, 2022. The monetary details of the deal haven’t been disclosed yet.

The new deal will see the Tata Group serve as the IPL’s title sponsor for its 2022 and 2023 editions. Reportedly, Vivo wanted to exit the partnership, a move the IPL Governing Council approved following the meeting.

Vivo, which had won the rights for title sponsorship after securing a INR 2200 crore deal running from 2018-2022, had its deal suspended for the 2020 season following the Galwan Valley military face-off between the Indian and Chinese soldiers. Dream11 had replaced Vivo as the title sponsor in 2020, but Vivo returned as title sponsor for IPL 2021.

Ever since their deal’s suspension in 2020, both parties had been looking for a smooth exit route, and with the Tata agreement, the Chinese firm has received the exit route it had been looking for.

IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel, commented on the development stating:
“Yes, Tata group is coming in as IPL title sponsor.”

A source in the BCCI was reported stating:
“This was supposed to happen sooner or later as Vivo’s presence was bringing bad publicity for both the league as well as the company. With negative sentiment around Chinese products, the company had to pull out of the sponsorship with one season left for the deal to be completed.”

Even though the deal is terminated a season before expected, the BCCI will not suffer a loss, as it is reported that the annual sponsorship sum of INR 440 crore will be paid by Tata. The sponsorship revenue model works with the BCCI keeping 50% of the money and distributing the rest among the IPL’s franchises. The League will see a change in the upcoming season with the addition of two new teams from 2022.

The Governing Council has also given the much-awaited Letter of Intent (LOI) to the two new franchises — Lucknow and Ahmedabad — after some discussion over some of the parent companies’ investment in betting businesses. Both teams have gotten the green signal now, however, and with the LOIs received, they can start recruiting players for the upcoming season, which is reported to get underway from April 2022.