Ending a period of uncertainity, fantasy gaming platform Dream11 won the IPL 2020 title sponsorship rights today, thus replacing Chinese mobile giants VIVO, which pulled out of the tournament this year owing to the border stand-off between India and China.
VIVO and the BCCI suspended a Rs 440 crore per year deal for this season, which starts on September 19 in the UAE. The tournament was moved out of India due to the rising COVID-19 positive cases.
It is learnt that the Tata group did not place a final bid while two education technology companies—BYJUs (201 crore) and Unacademy (170 crore)—came second and third respectively.
What's the deal?
Dream11, which has been one of the sponsors for two years now, won the rights with a bid of Rs 222 crore, for a four and a half month deal. The gaming platform can stay till the IPL 2022, if VIVO does not return next year. Dream11 will be then paying Rs 240 crore each for 2021 and 2022. This will make it an average of Rs 234 crore per year for three years.
What is BCCI's loss?
VIVO signed a five-year deal with the BCCI in 2018, acquiring the IPL title sponsorship for Rs 2,199 crore. As per the contract, the company was paying the Board around Rs 440 crore annually. Now, Dream11 has been awarded the contract for Rs 222 crore, so, the BCCI coffers would be poorer by around Rs 218 crore this year. The BCCI, however, said it is happy to find a sponsor on such short notice.
BCCI insiders feel that the Dream11 deal, along with the official sponsorship amount coming from Unacademy and payment app Cred—the two companies that have come on board in central sponsorship pool—will cover the losses to a considerable extent. The two companies have paid Rs 40 crore each and BCCI's total income from official sponsorship is Rs 222 crore plus Rs 80 crore.
Dream11's Chinese connection
Though Dream11 is an Indian company founded by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth, Chinese company Tencent has a stake in it. But, it seems that the BCCI has decided to overlook the reported “minority stake”. "Dream11 stakeholders, including its founders plus all 400 plus employees, are Indian," a BCCI source told PTI. "Their Indian investors are Kalaari Capital and Multiples Equity. Even Dream11's product is available exclusively for use only by Indians. Only a single-digit percentage minority stake is held by Tencent," the official added.
BCCI ACU inquiry against Dream11?
As recently as last month, the BCCI's Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) had sought an inquiry against Dream11 after it was reported that it had links to a fake T20 league which was held in a Punjab town but was live-streamed as a game in Sri Lanka.
The ACU investigations showed that kits used by players in the tournament had the Dream11 logo and the event was live streamed on FanCode. Both Dream11 and FanCode are part of Dream Sports group. There is no confirmation whether the BCCI's ACU is still investigating Dream11. They had given the inputs to Mohali police and had urged them to investigate the matter.
(With PTI inputs)
