Indian Cricket Team’s Home Matches Yet To Find New Title Sponsor. Here’s Why

The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) wait for a new title sponsor for the Indian cricket team’s home matches is still on. The deadline for bid submission was August 13. Two weeks have passed since that deadline, but the BCCI is yet to find a suitable sponsor. The BCCI had released the invitation on July 20, with the last date for ITT document purchase being August 4. The BCCI kept August 5 as the last date to seek clarifications. The Board is in talks with potential sponsors, with Google Gemini emerging as one of the brands involved in discussions. Spinny and SBI Life are also reportedly in talks.

According to a report in cricbuzzquoting industry sources, “the board is engaged in talks with potential corporates. Google Gemini, the artificial intelligence and generative AI brand that has been associated with several sporting properties of late, is understood to be among the brands being discussed. Spinny and SBI Life are the other parties that are apparently being spoken to.”

BCCI’s current rights holder, IDFC First Bank, pays Rs 4.2 crore per match, but the increased base price of Rs 4.75 crore appears to be a stumbling block for a potential deal. The proposed agreement is for two years (ending March 31, 2028), down from the three-year deal that IDFC First Bank secured in 2023. The Indian board had confirmed in its ITT that it expects the holder to sponsor nearly 35 matches (10 Tests, 12 ODIs and 13 T20Is).

The report added that some brands, mainly tyre, paint and sports apparel companies, cannot bid to become title sponsors of Indian cricket in this cycle. This has been done to protect the rights of existing sponsors such as Apollo Tyres (the Indian team’s lead jersey sponsor), Adidas (the Indian team’s kit sponsor) and Asian Paints (BCCI’s Associate Partner).

The BCCI has also set strict financial criteria for each of the bidders. “The average turnover of each bidder for the last three years must be at least INR 100 crore (Indian Rupees One Hundred Crore only) as per the last three audited accounts. Or the average net worth of each bidder for the last three years must be at least INR 100 crore (Indian Rupees One Hundred Crore only) as per the last three audited accounts,” the report quoted a BCCI bid document as saying.

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