Marketing committee meet postponed as BCCI’s tender notice
for team sponsorship evokes little response.
Are there no takers for the Indian team? It could be hard to believe but fact is that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not received a single bid till date for the Indian team’s sponsorship. Bids are to close on Tuesday.
Till Monday, the BCCI tender notice did not evoke any response, it was learnt. The BCCI priced a tender form at Rs5 lakh and no party is believed to have come forward to buy it. Sahara is the current sponsor of the team.
Following the lack of response, the Board has postponed the marketing committee meeting, scheduled to be held here on Wednesday. The committee was to announce the brand that would occupy the prime space on the jerseys of the Men in Blue for the next four years.
The BCCI was ‘hoping’ to double its income from team sponsorship. Sahara had a deal of about Rs415 crore for four years. More specifically, it pays Rs2 crore per international match but this time the Board wanted a combined bid for senior, junior, India A and women’s teams. Reports said that the Board was hoping to rake in about Rs800 crore from the new deal.
BCCI president Shashank Manohar confirmed the postponement of the marketing committee meeting but refused admit that it was a setback. “I don’t think it is a setback. There is a lot of time left for us to find a new sponsor. We will finalise the matter some time in December,” he said.
He also denied that the Board was expecting about Rs800 crore from this bracket. “That was media speculation. The media jumps the gun. We can’t help it,” Manohar, who is also the chairman of the marketing committee, said.
A highly-placed source said that if there are no interested parties, Sahara will continue. He did not clarify whether the current deal will continue or a new deal with a revised price will be signed. Sahara, which has been team sponsor since 2001, has a contract till the end of this year.
Manohar did not rule out issuing fresh tenders. “It will be a decision by the marketing committee,” the Board president signed off.
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