The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and VIVO have decided to suspend their partnership for IPL 2020. The Board informed about the development through an official press release.
In a cryptic one-line statement, the BCCI said, “The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020.”
This development took place as the anti-China sentiment in the country has peaked amid tensions between the two countries along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, where the clash between the two armies resulted in the death of 20 Indians soldiers.
Vivo has been paying Rs 440 crore a year to BCCI for sponsorship rights. Vivo had bagged the title sponsorship for two years initially in 2015, and retained the rights signing a five-year contract (2017-22), paying about Rs 2,199 crore. Half of the annual Vivo sponsorship money is distributed equally among eight franchises, with Rs 27.5 crore each. As yet, it’s not clear what the status of the contract is for the next edition of the IPL and beyond.
BCCI faced huge criticism on social media and otherwise after it said that it would be retaining all its sponsors for the 2020 edition of the tournament. Even VIVO India also faced backlash over social media, and there were even appeals to boycott the league.
Politics too floated over the issue in the recent past as National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah took onto Twitter earlier and wrote. “Chinese cell phone makers will continue as title sponsors of the IPL, while people are told to boycott Chinese products. It’s no wonder China is thumbing its nose at us when we are so confused about how to handle Chinese money/ investment/ sponsorship/ advertising”.
Apart from VIVO, IPL’s Chinese sponsors also include umpire partner Paytm, which has investments from Chinese online retailer Alibaba. Other sponsors include online fantasy league partner Dream 11 and food delivery service Swiggy, both of which have links to Chinese company Tencent.
The 13th edition of IPL is scheduled to take place from 19 September to 10 November in the UAE. The BCCI is now likely to float a tender for new IPL title sponsors as mandated by its constitution.