BCCI looking to lock value with long-term lead sponsors

With the market soft, the reserve price has been kept modest at ₹1 crore per ICC match and ₹3 crore for a bilateral international

It’s not often that Indian cricket is forced to go through the grind of value correction, commercially. But now that the days when Chinese phone makers Oppo and Vivo would splash huge sums to ride the Indian cricket wave are gone, its own IPL has become a competing property, lead sponsorship is one segment where the BCCI has lowered expectations.

The BCCI logo. (Image Courtesy: Cricket Australia)

Prospective bidders have been invited for Indian team lead (jersey) sponsorship and the base price for it has been set at ₹1 crore for an ICC/ACC match and ₹3 crore for a bilateral international. This is collectively close to 40 % less than what previous sponsors Byju’s were shelling out.

“One has to be realistic and understanding of what the market has to offer,” said a BCCI official. “Even so, we expect the winning bid to be much higher than the reserve price.” The tender document will be available till June 26 and BCCI expects to find new partners before the West Indies tour starting July 12.

In 2017, when smartphone companies were piggybacking on the 4G wave in India, Oppo agreed to pay ₹1079 crore for five years – Rs. 1.5 crore per ICC/ACC match and ₹4.6 crore per bilateral match - to have its name on the Indian team jersey. Vivo were the second-highest bidders at ₹768 crore. Oppo walked out in 2019, for Byju’s to come on board. The tech giants extended the deal in 2022 at a 10 percent premium, before they ran into a funding crunch.

A jersey or kit sponsorship deal is majorly dependent on Indian bilateral cricket. Whether that market is shrinking and to what degree will be determined by this deal and that of the bilateral media rights, later in the year.

The Indian board is aiming to lock value by targeting long-term partners (2023-28) just as they did with kit sponsorship to find Adidas. A total of 240 matches are expected to be played during this period and around 80 percent of these will be bilateral games.

Now that there are ICC world events every year, that market is on the up. But ICC regulations allowing the use of team sponsors only on the leading and non-leading arm, not the front-of-jersey, make it a limiting factor.

“There’s a legacy to that. Our events are nation vs nation at the highest level. The front of jersey is reserved for the name of the country,” said an ICC official. “Member boards have commercial opportunities. But given the prestige of nation vs nation, we want that to be at the front and centre, and that’s how it will be going forward.”