The Indian cricket team will be sporting a new brand name on their match jerseys from September. The Chinese mobile manufacturing company Oppo will hand over the sponsorship rights to Bangalore-based educational technology Byju’s, an online tutorial firm.
The deal between Oppo and the BCCI, which had been inked in 2017 for a period of five years, was reportedly worth Rs. 1079 crore.
Virat Kohli’s men will be wearing the new jersey with Byju’s printed on the front from the first game of their home season, which begins against South Africa from September 15.
Sources stated that the transfer from Oppo to Byju’s was a “tripartite agreement”, which will be signed on Thursday.
“The Oppo and Byju’s are negotiating among themselves on the possible handover of shirt sponsorship deal. The CoA has been intimated that they are discussing among themselves on the transfer of sponsorship” a senior BCCI official told PTI on condition of anonymity.
In March 2017, Oppo had outbid Vivo mobiles to be the sponsors of the Indian team. As per the deal, while Vivo had bid Rs. 768 crore, Oppo’s bid was slated over Rs. 1000 crore. Hence, they were paying BCCI Rs. 4.61 crore per bilateral game and Rs, 1.56 crore for any ICC event game.
“Any transfer of sponsorship requires the interested parties to inform BCCI about negotiations. Accordingly Byju’s and Oppo have informed about their discussion. The BCCI doesn’t stand to lose any money as the new company will pay exactly what the old one is paying.”
“The BCCI has a clause which allows transfer of sponsorship. Since there is a secrecy clause, the financial dealings can’t be spoken about,” the official said.
However, an official stated that the transfer to Byju’s means more money for the BCCI.
“The BCCI stands to gain if there is a transfer of sponsorship. The two parties in question will have to pay an extra 10 percent (between them) and also give a notice of six months. They must be negotiating who will carry the burden of those extra 10 per cent,” the official said.