Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council announced Tuesday that the Indian native Tata Group will replace Chinese smartphone makers VIVO as the new sponsors of the T20 league as the latter had pulled out of the position ahead of the league's 15th season this year.
The news of Vivo's exit and Tata's onboarding as the new sponsors was confirmed by IPL chairman Brijesh Patel.
What was said
"Vivo has exited and the Tatas will be title sponsors," the IPL chairman was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
This will be Tata Group's first time sponsoring the IPL. However, its Tata Motors and Tata Consultancy Services subsidiaries have previously partnered with the league and one of its franchises, namely the Rajasthan Royals.
Vivo became the IPL’s title partner in 2015, after which it signed a five-year extension for Rs 2,199 crore in 2017, meaning that Vivo was paying Rs 440 crore for each rendition of the tournament.
The deal had to be terminated in 2020 following threats of a fan boycott in the wake of a significant political relationship deterioration between India and China with troops clashing on the border between the two countries. Dream11 was then brought as the title sponsor for the 2020 edition of the IPL after winning the rights for Rs 222 crore.
The upcoming 2022 rendition of the tournament will then be called Tata IPL. It was reported that BCCI will earn the same amount of Rs 440 crore from Tata instead as the IPL title sponsor rights have been transferred to the company. This means Tata will be the tournament's title sponsor at least until 2023 as there was a one-year pause in Vivo's sponsorship due to the conflict with China.
“VIVO requested us for the transfer of rights and the Governing Council has approved it,” Patel continued.
IPL 2022 auction to take place in February
The new season of the IPL is likely to start in April this year with the 2022 mega auction being held in Bengaluru between February 11-13, sources have reported. The tournament is set to welcome the addition of two new teams, namely Lucknow and Ahmedabad, making the IPL a 10-team tournament.
“The auction will be in Bengaluru, the exact date is not finalised. But it would be held between February 11-13,” one source said.
Lucknow was acquired by the RPSG group following a whopping Rs 7,090 crore bid while CVC Capital acquired Ahmedabad for Rs 5,625 crore. Previously, the eight Indian Premier League franchises revealed the list of retained players ahead of the mega auction with a maximum number of four players comprising no more than three Indian players and two overseas players.
The two new franchises, however, are given a budget of Rs 33 crore. They will have to pick three players before the auction comprising no more than two Indian players and one overseas player.
The two to be debutant franchises have also reportedly had their deadline for naming the three draft-in players extended until January 31.
