Tata Group holding company Tata Sons, fantasy sports platform Dream 11 and e-learning start-up rivals Byju’s and Unacademy have expressed interest in bidding for the title rights of the13th edition of the Indian Premier League. The window for ‘Expression of Interest’, floated by BCCI on Monday, ended on Friday. Despite intense speculation, telecom major Jio, consumer goods company Patanjali Ayurved and tech giant Microsoft did not come to the table. The Tatas, already an official IPL partner, are being seen as frontrunners as BCCI looks to raise over £30 million in the middle of a raging pandemic. With the Indian cricket board also set to bring in two more official partners – expanding the pool from three to five – the IPL is set to make up almost 75% of what it ended up losing in the wake of Chinese mobile manufacturer Vivo India’s exit.
Vivo was contracted to pay the BCCI £44 million per year in a five-year rights cycle between 2018-2022. Dream 11, a major player in the sports sponsorship market, and Byju’s – sponsor of Team India’s jersey – are keen on the rights too. Unacademy, Byju’s direct rivals in the e-learning sector, have already initiated talks with BCCI to come on board as official partners along with fintech company Cred. Unacademy will stay on as official partners should Byju’s fail to acquire the title rights. “That’s a separate rivalry building up between the two. If Byju’s win the title rights, Unacademy will have to move out of the OP space,” those tracking developments said. BCCI is learnt to have given Unacademy and Cred a verbal commitment to come on board as official partners, “subject to title rights”.
Tata Motors and TCS have been associated with cricket as IPL’s official partner and as technology partners with IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals, respectively. However, this is the first time Tata Sons has shown an interest in the title sponsorship of a cricketing event. In 2017, the Tata Group had stepped in as title sponsors of the Mumbai Marathon.
