Dream11 wins title sponsorship rights of IPL 2020

The race for the title sponsorship of Indian Premier League (IPL) ends with Dream11 winning the deal for Rs 222 Crore. Dream11 is one of the market leading fantasy gaming company. In comparison with what Vivo was paying for the same rights, the discount is whopping 50% , vivo signed the deal earlier for the same rights for Rs 440.

“In the given circumstances, we are happy with the deal. These rights are only for four months and only for this edition of the IPL,” IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel said.

Dream 11 outbid the other two bidders, both of which are education tech platforms – Bjyu’s (Rs 201 crore) and Unacademy (Rs 171 crore). The same was confirmed by Patel.

Earlier Vivo, was awarded the IPL title rights for a colossal Rs 20199 crore for five years, 2018 onwards. Later this year due to prevailing anti-china sentiment in the country, it was mutually decided by BCCI and vivo to suspend their partnership.

“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020,” a BCCI statement on August 6 read.

The BCCI is primarily of the view that with a digital platform coming on board, It will boost IPL’s fan engagement that has been lying passive over the last few months, especially due the covid19.

Sources said the Tatas apparently wanted some "barter deal" in return for the IPL 2020 rights fee and the BCCI did not agree. If the Tata Group had bagged the IPL title rights, it would have been a first for them in cricket.

Dream11 is already a big spender on cricket. They are associated with at least six IPL teams and also with the International Cricket Council. With IPL coming up, Dream11 aims to rake in the moolah due to the return of live cricket.

The fantasy cricket league platform, which has MS Dhoni as its brand ambassador, gets funding from Chinese company Tencent but insiders say their bid this time was fuelled by a major Indian telecom major wanting a stranglehold on the online gaming world.