BCCI seeks single sponsor for home series

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited bids from advertisers for primary sponsorship rights for the entire series of games...

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited bids from advertisers for primary sponsorship rights for the entire series of games it will organise over the next three years. In a first of its kind move,the board is offering sponsors to ride all tournaments,domestic as well as international,organised in India over the next three years.

This means a sponsor gets to tag its name to all the domestic tournaments such as Ranji Trophy,as well as all Test matches,ODIs and T20 internationals that Indian team will play at home between September 2010-March 2013.

In yet another first move,the board is looking at giving away these rights to one corporate entity. Companies may be allowed to form consortiums,but the rights will be given to one lead bidder only,said a top BCCI official. This is the first time the board is looking at exploiting the commercial potential of its domestic tournaments. If we get good response,we may sell sponsorships for local games,too,from the next season onwards, he said.

The board has set a floor price of Rs 2 crore per match. With India expected to play at least 51 matches over the next three years,it puts the total floor value at Rs 102 crore. The domestic tournaments are not included in calculating the price,the BCCI official said.

The floor price is much lower in comparison with what the board earned in the three-year deal that expired recently. The board had outsourced the sponsorship rights for the previous three years to World Sport Group (WSG),which was paying it Rs 3.15 crore per match.

WSG sold the sponsorship rights on tournament to tournament basis. For example,various advertisers such as Ultratech Cements or Micromax,were the lead sponsors of different tournaments. Whereas now,one company can buy the entire Indian cricket for the next three years, said the BCCI official.

Advertisers are enthused with the opportunity and they say the final price may go up to as much as Rs3-4 crore per match. This means the value of the total deal may go up to Rs 150-200 crore.

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It is an attractive opportunity as an advertiser looking at building a pan-India presence may get to reach consumers cutting across socio-economic barriers,demographics,religion and languages, said a top executive of an agency that manages business for advertisers such as Hindustan Unilever,Hero Honda and Vodafone. Another executive of a rival agency said this is a good opportunity only for smaller brands wanting to build national awareness.

The last date for submitting the bids is August 19 and the winner will be announced the next day.