The Board of Control for Cricket in India invited new tenders for the Indian Cricket Teams’ – men, women, and age group teams- title sponsors. BCCI’s contract with the previous sponsor Byju’s ended in the last financial year which means the Indian cricket teams are currently without any title sponsor. The effect of it did not seem noticeable during the World Test Championship finals as teams are not allowed to sport the title sponsor on their chest.
BCCI Secretary Jay Shah announced a public notice stating, “The BCCI invites bids from reputed entities for acquiring the National Team Lead Sponsor rights.” There are also separate payment details for Indian and overseas entities.
However, not all brands can apply for title sponsorship even if they fulfill the financial criteria. The list of banned brand categories shared by BCCI in Annexure B of the document are:
- Alcohol products,
- Betting,
- Athleisure and Sportswear manufacturer,
- Cryptocurrency,
- Real Money gaming (Except fantasy sports gaming),
- Tobacco, and
- one which is likely to offend public morals such as, including but not limited to, pornography.
The decision to ban sportswear manufacturers and athleisure brands is taken as BCCI wishes to ensure that competitors within the same industry cannot become primary sponsors since recently BCCI has signed with Adidas as their kit sponsors.
The bid document can be purchased for a non-refundable fee of ₹5 lakh and the last date to purchase the document is June 26. “Any interested party wishing to submit a bid is required to purchase the ITT. However, only those satisfying the eligibility criteria set out in the ITT and subject to the other terms and conditions set out therein shall be eligible to bid. It is clarified that merely purchasing the ITT does not entitle any person to bid,” said Jay Shah.
