Is This The Reason Why BCCI Hasn't Announced Dream11 As IPL's Title Sponsors Yet?

Dream11, on Tuesday, won the IPL title rights for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The fantasy gaming platform has replaced Vivo as the title sponsors of the league. IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel confirmed the development as Dream11 outbid its competitors after registering a bid of INR 222 crore.

But surprisingly, the BCCI is yet to confirm the deal. Its been more than 24 hours since Dream11 won the bidding race but the BCCI has not reacted from its side. Well, according to reports, the reason behind it is that both the parties are currently negotiating over extending the deal.

When BCCI invited Expression of Interest (EOI) earlier this month, it had made it clear that the title rights are available for the period from August 18, 2020 to December 31, 2020. Vivo, which had secured the IPL sponsorship rights for 2018-2022 for nearly 2200 crore, could return next year after suspending the ties this year in the wake of the border clash between India and China.

But Dream11 seems to be interested in extending the deal although its fate depends on how high they raise the bid as the BCCI is unwilling to settle for the current offer. According to BCCI sources, this is precisely the reason why the board has not yet officially announced Dream11 as IPL title rights holder.

As per a report in PTI, BCCI and Dream11 are still negotiating on the conditional three-year bid under which the company is supposed to pay Rs 240 crore each in 2021 and 2022 if Vivo doesn’t make a comeback with its yearly Rs 440 crore deal.

“It was always clear that the highest bidder may not get the title rights (it was specified by the BCCI before accepting the Expression of Interest from bidders),” a veteran BCCI official told the news agency.

“Having said that, Dream11 has bid the highest and are still favourites to get it, a few issues are still being ironed out before an official announcement comes,” he added.

The report further stated that BCCI is in discussions with Dream11 to revisit their second and third year bids and wants them to increase the amounts.

“If it’s for only year 2020, then Rs 222 crore works fine. But it was a conditional bid for three years. We still have our deal with Vivo on,” he said.

“We haven’t closed it as it’s a pause. If we are getting Rs 440 crore, why will we settle for Rs 240 crore?” the official asked.

In such a scenario, Dream11 has two options — either to accept a one-year or rather four months 13 days deal of Rs 222 crore or increase the conditional amount for 2021 and 2022, which is their discretion. Meanwhile, IPL 2020 is scheduled to get underway with the final scheduled to take place on November 10.

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