BCCI gets new T-shirt sponsor for Team India ahead of Australia tour

New Delhi : The Indian team will be flying to Australia for their 70-day tour on November 12 and the good news is that they will be boarding the plane with a kit sponsor. "We have signed a three-year-deal. The official announcement will be made very soon," a BCCI official said on Sunday.

With this BCCI has averted the situation of facing the condition where they would have gone without a sponsor. The per match figure will fall short of the R87 lakh per game previous sponsors Nike paid.

BCCI had set a base price of R65 lakh per match, a 25 percent decrease from the previous deal. Nike’s deal also involved a royalty fee of R30 crore for merchandising rights. The base price for that had been set at R24 crore for 3 years. The new deal’s value is said to be higher than the base price but short of the previous deal.

After Nike ended its 14-year association with BCCI, it did not pick up the tender document when fresh bids were invited. There were reports that brands like Adidas and Puma would be interested in materializing the opportunity but none filed a bid for it.

It’s notable that when IPL is delivering impressive ratings, and attractive sponsorships across franchises, companies have been reluctant to enter long term deals with the India team. “The bang for the buck now comes from IPL, and visibility is immediate,” an industry expert said.