BCCI Fails To Attract Bids For Kit Sponsorship, Team India In Danger Of Touring Australia Without Sponsors

BCCI, the richest cricket body in the world, has reportedly failed to attract any bidders for Team India’s apparel and kit sponsorship. At the start of the last month, the Indian cricket board had invited bids for the team kit sponsor and official merchandising partner rights through a tender process to replace outgoing sponsor Nike.

Nike’s contract is set to expire this month. The sports apparel giant had a four-year deal with the BCCI for 370 crore with a royalty of 30 crore. Nike was Team India’s shirt sponsor since 2005.

“The terms and conditions governing the submission and evaluation of bids including eligibility requirements and performance obligations are contained in the ITT which will be available from August 3, 2020 on receipt of payment of the tender fee of Rs One lakh,” a BCCI release said.

The deadline to purchase the Invitation to Tender (ITT) was August 26. But to BCCI’s utter surprise, no  party bid for the sponsorship. According to reports in The Mumbai Mirror, at least four qualified bidders were in fray Adidas, Puma and FanCode besides Nike. But none of them offered a financial bid despite the fact that the base price was lower than the existing price.

The latest development has put the BCCI in a fix just days after they had to find the title sponsor for IPL 2020 after Vivo sensationally suspended its ties with the board. At a time when BCCI would have wanted to focus entirely on IPL, they will now have to find the sponsors quickly as India are scheduled to leave for Australia in November.

The BCCI had set the base price for the new sponsors to Rs 65 lakh per game. But none of the parties bid for the sponsorship. The news outlet also stated that the companies wanted some kind of promotion for their brands. The BCCI, however, was not willing to offer any guarantees.

Following this, the companies decided not to bid for the property. Often, there would be instances of the bids being offered for less than the base price but this time, even that was not happening. It now looks imminent that either the BCCI will have to lower the base price and invite bids again or go to Australia without a kit sponsor.

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