IPL 2020: Tata Group, Unacademy, and Dream11 (Fight is on for Title Sponsor)

Multinational Group of Companies, Tata Group has submitted its Expression of Interest to become an IPL 2020 title sponsor, including with education technology company Unacademy and fantasy sports platform Dream11 joined a bid to replace Chinese technology giant Vivo for one IPL season.

Due to the recent CoronaVirus pandemic, the Indian Board of Cricket decided to move the Indian Premier League to the United Arab Emirates. And due to the India China clash, Chinese Company Vivo stepped out from IPL sponsorship.

Friday, 14 August was the last date of submission of EOI to the Indian Cricket Board. The new IPL dates are from September 19 to November 10 in the UAE and the winning bidder will hold the IPL title rights for four months and 13 days.

Tata Group’s entry into the battle of IPL rights makes the bidding on August 18 very interesting as BCCI is expecting that the winning bid will not be much lower than Vivo’s Rs 440 crore annual contract even though the rights period is of a short duration.

“Yes, Tata Group has submitted their Expression of Interest to buy IPL title rights,” A group spokesperson told.

 A source in the Indian Cricket Board affirmed the submission of EOIs from the other two companies.

“The EOI doesn’t have to mention the bid amount. It will be sent on August 18,” the official said.

“Post the delivery of the EOI, BCCI shall inform the rights, product categories and entitlements to the interested third parties. The final bid should be sent to [email protected] between 11 am to 1pm on August 18, 2020,” the BCCI has already stated.

Two other companies, Patanjali and Jio Communications are also reportedly in the battle of bidding but no affirmation was coming from BCCI on these two.