Breaking: Blow For BCCI As VIVO Pulls Out As Title Sponsors Of IPL 2020

Just a couple of days after the IPL Governing Council (GC) confirmed that it has retained all of its sponsors including VIVO as title sponsors for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in UAE, the Chinese mobile manufacturing giant has dealt a huge blow to the Indian cricket board.

VIVO has decided to snap its ties with the BCCI for this year. In December last year, VIVO retained the title sponsorship of the IPL after submitting a bid of Rs 2,199 crore over the next five years. VIVO had won the rights for IPL title sponsorship for the first time in 2016. But the lucrative deal has come to an end for this year.

The Chinese company has been in the middle of a social-media storm in the last 48 hours after the IPL GC said that it would be retaining all its sponsors for the 2020 edition of the tournament.

The BCCI and the IPL Governing Council have faced criticism for deciding to not cut ties with the Chinese company. Chinese sponsorship became a bone of contention after the clashes between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh in June.

The BCCI had promised to review the deals in the aftermath of the violent showdown but decided to stick with the sponsors. However, VIVO has decided to end the ties with the BCCI for this year although it would be back next year and would see out their contract that ends in 2023.

BREAKING NEWS: VIVO won’t be the IPL sponsor this year. They will be back in 2021 and continue till 2023. The IPL will have a new sponsor this edition IPL

— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) August 4, 2020

The BCCI now needs to find a sponsor quickly for IPL 2020 which gets underway on September 19. The Indian cricket board has just over a month to sort things out. The news will also be another blow for all the franchises who are already fighting tooth and nail to claim compensation from BCCI over having to lose out in gate money in the UAE.

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