New Delhi: The association of Chinese mobile-maker, VIVO, is set to come to an end, with TATA reportedly replacing the smartphone brand as IPL’s title sponsor from the 2022 season onwards. The decision over the sponsorship change was taken during the IPL Governing Council meeting on Tuesday. “Yes, Tata group is coming in as IPL title sponsor,” IPL chairman Brijesh Patel confirmed the development. It has been understood that VIVO had requested to transfer its existing deal with the BCCI over IPL title sponsorship to TATA.
Vivo had a deal of Rs 2200 crore for title sponsorship rights from 2018-2022 but after the 2020 Galwan Valley military face-off between the Indian and Chinese Army soldiers, the brand took a break for a year with Dream11 replacing it. However, Vivo was back as IPL title sponsor in 2021 even as speculation raged that they were looking to transfer the rights to a suitable bidder and the BCCI approved the move. Both Ahmedabad and Lucknow have also been given a time frame for player signing before the mega auction takes place.
The IPL is all set to be a 10-team tournament in 2022 as the RPS Goenka group bagged the Lucknow-based franchise for its highest bid at Rs 7,090 crore. Meanwhile, the Ahmedabad-based franchise will be owned by CVC Group after CVC Capital made the winning bid at Rs 5,625 crore. The 2022 mega auction will take place in Bengaluru in the second week of February. In November last year, all the existing IPL franchises had revealed the list of their retained players ahead of the mega auction of the upcoming season. The two new IPL franchises Lucknow and Ahmedabad have a budget of Rs 33 crore to pick 3 players who go back into the pool before the mega auction begins.