BCCI sets base price of 350 crores for Team India's lead sponsorship rights - Reports

BYJU's exited as the lead sponsor of the Indian team in March this year.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has set the base price for lead sponsorship rights for the Indian national cricket team at INR 350 crores. This follows the June 14 announcement of the national team's lead sponsor rights tender by the apex cricket authority, which is open for business until June 26.

It is understood that the base price set by the BCCI was less than what the previous lead sponsor, the edtech firm BYJU's, had agreed to pay. The Bengaluru-based company paid INR 5.07 crore every match for home matches in which Team India participated and INR 1.56 crore per match for competitions like the ICC and ACC.

For the unversed, BCCI has barred betting, crypto-currency, tobacco, and real-money gaming companies from bidding.

BCCI has set a realistic base price for the lead sponsor rights

The cricket board has considerably lowered the basic price for the sponsorship rights, which was previously set at INR 350 crore, according to a report by The Economic Times. A sports industry expert praised BCCI's choice as prudent given the state of the advertising market.

"BCCI has set a realistic base price for the lead sponsor rights. The ad market is tough, and the new-age sponsors who were spending large sums of money on cricket have cut their marketing budgets drastically due to the funding winter," the expert said on the condition of anonymity, as quoted by Economic Times.

According to Vinit Karnik, GroupM South Asia's head of sports, esports, and entertainment, this year will see a rise in the value of on-ground sponsorship inventory across the Indian Premier League (IPL) and bilateral matches, according to the report.

GroupM India Sports Sponsorship Report 2023 stated that the advertising revenue of the Indian sports industry saw a tremendous 49% surge to INR 14,209 crore in 2022, and is expected to reach INR 16,000 crore in 2023.

The agency further adds that the ad revenue could potentially attain INR 20,000 crore at the close of 2025.