Star India on Monday bagged the sponsorship rights of the Indian cricket team for a period starting January 1, 2014 to March 31, 2017, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on its website.
The BCCI said in a release, “Star India Pvt Ltd have been awarded the Team Sponsorship Rights covering BCCI Events, ICC Events and ACC Events, for the period 1st January 2014 to 31st March 2017. Rights include the right to be called the ‘Official Team Sponsor’, and to display a commercial logo on the team clothing of the Sr. Men’s Cricket Team, the U-19 Men’s Cricket Team, the Men’s A-Team and the Women’s Team.”
According to the Indian Express, there were five companies who were competing for sponsoring Team India, which were Star India, Sony, UB Group, World Sports Group (WSG) and Games Unlimited. Star India trumped Sony and UB Group in the race to sponsor the Indian national side.
WSG, a sports marketing company manages former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, whereas the lesser known Games Unlimited manages Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav and Ajinkya Rahane.
The BCCI had fixed the base price for India’s international matches at Rs 1.5 crores per match. The former sponsor of the national team, Sahara, was paying the cricket board Rs 3.34 crores per match.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the BCCI’s Marketing Committee, on 9 December 2013.
The BCCI release added, “The tender document, which was available from 11th November 2013, was picked up by 7 prospective bidders. Bids were accepted until 3:00 pm on 9th December 2013, at which time the bids were opened and evaluated. Two bidders — Star India Pvt Ltd and Sahara India Financial Corporation — were in the fray. Sahara’s bid was found to be ineligible.”
“Star is the Title Sponsor for BCCI international and domestic matches for the period October 2013 to 31st March 2014, as well as the Holder of the Broadcast, Internet and Mobile Rights of cricket in India, for the period July 2012 – March 2018. Star has a deep understanding of the game of cricket, and what it means to the nation. We are pleased to extend our association with them,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said.
“It’s a team of brilliant talent and we are proud to be associated with them. This is further endorsement of Star’s deep commitment to Indian cricket and Indian Sports in general,” Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India, said.
Source: Cricketcountry.com
