Dream11, a fantasy sports application, has bagged the title sponsorship rights for the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 2020 edition for ₹222 crore.
Brijesh Patel, the IPL chairman, confirmed to The Hindu that Dream11 was finalised after “evaluating the three bids that were submitted during the prescribed window earlier today”. The other two bidders were e-learning platforms Unacademy (₹170 crore) and Byju’s (₹201 crore).
Tata group pulls out
The eligible entities among those who had submitteed their Expression of Interest (EoI) were asked to email bids online between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Tuesday. The Tata group, despite submitting the EoI document last week, pulled out of the race.
Interestingly, Dream11, which has been a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and IPL partner for a couple of years now, also has a minority investment by Tencent Holdings, a Chinese firm.
The BCCI was last week forced to invite EoI for IPL title sponsorship rights following Vivo India’s pull-out barely six weeks before the start of the tournament, to be played from September 19 to Nov. 10. Vivo India’s deal was valued at ₹440 crore per annum. The EoI had specified that the rights were to be awarded till Dec. 31.
Investigation
Meanwhile, FanCode, a live-streaming app launched last year by the Dream11 promoters, is under investigation by the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit for streaming a match played by locals on the outskirts of Chandigarh as part of the Uva Premier League in Sri Lanka during the pandemic.
According to a BCCI official, the Punjab Police is investigating it and since the two sites are different entities, the ongoing investigation won’t have any bearing over Dream11’s title sponsorship bid.
