The BCCI signs Unacademy and CRED as official partners for IPL 2020

On 18 August, the BCCI announced that Indian fantasy sports giant Dream11 had secured the IPL 2020 season title sponsorship rights for a reported sum of INR 222 Crores.

The thirteenth edition of the Dream11 Indian Premier League is all set to kick off from 19 September and will be played in the UAE. Given the fact that several industries are facing shortfalls - the Future group pulled out from IPL 2020 as a result, the BCCI was on the pursuit to find two official partners.

The Bengaluru-based digital education platform 'Unacademy,' one of the top contenders to replace Vivo as the title sponsors this year, has now signed a deal worth INR 120-130 crores for the next three years, which will make them the official partner of the IPL.

Speaking to InsideSport, a BCCI official confirmed that the agreement between the Board and Unacademy has been finalized. “The deal with Unacademy is completed for 3 years. We will make the official announcement soon.”

Indian credit card company CRED signed as an official partner on Tuesday, which means that all three IPL partner slots have now been finalized.

“We are extremely pleased that we have filled 2 official partnership slots. This clearly shows the inherent strength of brand IPL. Our only deficit this year will be on account of Title Sponsorship which we lost out due to unfortunate and unprecedented circumstances”, a BCCI official told InsideSport.

Let us take a look at IPL 2020’s revenue from Central Sponsorships 

Title Sponsor:  Dream11 - INR 222 Cr

Official Partners: Tata Motors, Unacademy and CRED - INR 120 Cr

Umpire Sponsor: PayTM - INR 28 Cr

Strategic Timeout Partner: CEAT - INR 30 Cr

The BCCI has raised revenue of INR 400 Crores so far from the central sponsorships of IPL 2020 season. In comparison with the 2019 IPL central sponsorships, the BCCI had reportedly

earned INR 618 Crores which is roughly 35% more than what they are getting now. Nevertheless, kudos to this wonderful flagship event of the BCCI, which has still managed to attract investors even in this period of global economic slowdown.

[With inputs from InsideSport]