They have reportedly won the Indian Premier League title rights for the 2020 edition but whether fantasy gaming platform Dream11 hold on to that for the next two editions will depend on how high they raise the bid, reported PTI.
It is understood that the Board of Control for Cricket in India is unwilling to settle for the current offer. And that is reported to be the reason why the board has not yet officially announced Dream11 as IPL title rights holder for 2020 even though Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel confirmed it to various media outlets on Tuesday.
Dream11 will replace Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Vivo, which had to pull out for this season because the China-India border stand-off.
BCCI and Dream11 are still negotiating on the conditional three-year bid under which the company is supposed to pay Rs 240 crore each in 2021 and 2022 if Vivo doesn’t make a comeback with its yearly Rs 440 crore deal, the PTI report added per sources in BCCI.
BCCI had announced earlier that the deal with Vivo, which runs till 2023, is only suspended for the current year. “The Board of Control for Cricket in India and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020,” the governing body had said earlier.
“It was always clear that the highest bidder may not get the title rights (it was specified by the BCCI before accepting the Expression of Interest from bidders),” a veteran BCCI official told PTI.
“Having said that, Dream11 has bid the highest and are still favourites to get it, a few issues are still being ironed out before an official announcement comes.”
It is learnt that BCCI is in discussions with Dream11 to revisit their second and third year bids and wants them to increase the amounts.
“If it’s for only year 2020, then Rs 222 crore works fine. But it was a conditional bid for three years. We still have our deal with Vivo on. We haven’t closed it as it’s a pause. If we are getting Rs 440 crore, why will we settle for Rs 240 crore?” the official said.
In this scenario, Dream11 has two options – either to accept a four-month deal of Rs 222 crore or increase the conditional amount for 2021 and 2022, which is their discretion.
It is worth noting that Dream11 is funded partly by Tencent, a Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company.
Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per year. The one-year pullout could be treated as a moratorium period and if the relations improve, BCCI may look at inking a fresh three-year deal with the company from 2021 to 2023 on revised terms, it was reported earlier.
With PTI inputs
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