Tata Group joins the race for IPL 2020 title sponsorship rights

On 10 August, the Board of Control for Cricket in India invited 'Expressions of Interest' [EOI] to allow third parties to vest interest in acquiring the title sponsorship rights of their flagship tournament. The aftermath of the India-China border skirmish might have triggered the suspension for partnership between the BCCI and Vivo Mobiles India Pvt Ltd. While the pursuit for a new title sponsor for the IPL is underway numerous companies have emerged as the top contenders.

The BCCI has received the ‘EOI’ from at least five-six companies who are ready to fill in the role of title sponsor for this year's tournament which is taking place in the UAE. It has been learnt that Tata Group has now joined the list of companies who are interested to bag the rights.

At the recent turn of events on Friday, Kolkata Knight Riders announced Mobile Premier League as their new sponsor who will replace Bjyju's. This could well mean that Edu-tech giant is focused on acquiring IPL sponsorship rights.

Tata Group met the deadline date of the BCCI to fill out EOI and their presence in this process would make bidding of the IPL title rights interesting.

"Yes, Tata Group has submitted their Expression of Interest to buy IPL title rights," a group spokesperson told PTI. 

At the time of inviting title sponsors last week, a BCCI official had said: “the discount could be as much 30-40 % of the Rs. 440 crore Vivo would have paid.”

Some industry experts are of the opinion that not all who have expressed their interests would be bidding on 18 August. 

“Tata group is a serious player. It may want to make the most of this rare opportunity when IPL is scheduled in a festive season and sponsorship is available just for a year, and at a discount,” said a source close to the development, reported HT. 

Reliance Jio, Patanjali, Byju’s and UnAcademy are some of the other players in this race.

"Tata suits the bill to sponsor IPL as like the game which has a varied audience, the group too has varied businesses. Tata itself is a big enough brand to match IPL," said brand strategist Harish Bijoor.