KOLKATA: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited third parties to express their interest (EOI) in acquiring the title sponsorship rights for the Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL) to be held in the United Arab Emirates from 19 September 2020 to 10 November 2020.

The rights are available for the period from 18 August 2020 to 31 December 2020. The turnover of the interested third party must be over Rs 300 crore as per the last audited accounts.

The BCCI confirmed on 6 August that Vivo will not be the title sponsor for IPL 2020 which signed a five-year sponsorship deal in 2018. The title sponsorship is a large source of IPL revenue.

“For the avoidance of doubt, it is clarified that marketing agency/agents are not eligible to bid and any bid submitted by a marketing agency/agent shall be rejected at the outset,” BCCI added.

The rights and the product categories will be discussed after the delivery of EOIs, with each third party having submitted an EOI and to clarify, third parties need not include any indicative level of fees for acquiring the rights in their EOIs. 

“For the avoidance of doubt, it is clarified that BCCI shall not be obliged to award the rights to the third party which indicates willingness to pay the highest fees in the course of discussions/ negotiations with BCCI after submitting an EOI. BCCI’s decision in this regard will also depend on a number of other relevant factors, including but not limited to, the manner in which the third party intends to exploit the rights and the potential impact of the same on brand IPL as also the fan/ viewer experience, which will be examined/ evaluated by BCCI in the course of discussions/ negotiations with interested third parties who submit an EOI,” BCCI stated. 

Each EOI has to reach BCCI’s relevant email id by 5 pm IST on 14 August. Any EOIs received after this deadline will not be considered unless BCCI decides otherwise at its sole discretion. Post-delivery of the EOI, BCCI shall inform the rights, product categories and entitlements to the interested third parties. The final bid should be sent to the board between 11 am to 1 pm on 18 August 2020.