Board Happy With Four-Year Deal Worth Rs 203.28 Crore
Cricket sells in this country , no matter what.Quite a few members of the marketing committee of the BCCI were jittery ahead of a meeting here on Thursday to decide on the title sponsor for India's domestic and international cricket matches for the forthcoming season.
The credibility of Indian cricket, after all, was at an alltime low after two IPL teams had been suspended by the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Commission a few weeks back, following a detailed inquiry into the spot fixing scan dal during IPL-6 in 2013.
The omens weren't too good. Last year, there was just one bidder, Micromax, which was eventually awarded the rights, for title sponsorship for the 2014-15 season. This time, there were two -One97 Communications, owners of Paytm, and Micromax. By the evening, though, the BCCI officials were not just relieved, they were delighted. The title sponsorship rights for India's domestic and international cricket matches at home were bought for a period of four years (till 2019) by Paytm for a whopping Rs 203.28 crore.
While the base price per match was fixed at Rs 1.68 crore, the final per match price shot up to Rs 2.42 crore.The amount per match is thus Rs 40 lakh more than what Micromax gave the Board last year. No wonder then, that the BCCI began showing their `gratitude' to the new sponsor right away .
Within 10 minutes of Paytm winning the sponsorship rights, the BCCI `welcomed' them on their twitter handle, which was followed by photographs of the new sponsors with the Board secretary and quotes of Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO of Paytm. This is the first time the Board has found a sponsor in an e-venture or e-commerce initiative, and the deal opens up a new avenue for cricket sponsorship. While this forthcoming season will see India host South Africa for a 72-day tour involving four Tests, five ODIs and three T20 Internationals, the 2016-17 season will involve England, Australia and New Zealand touring the country . There are 84 matches (Tests, ODIs and T20Is) scheduled in India during the next four seasons. The 2015-16 Ranji Trophy will be known as the `Paytm Ranji Trophy .' “Paytm is one of the new generation companies and we are delighted to partner with them. Having them for next four years gives the stability and continuity to Indian cricket,“ BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said.
