New Delhi: The fantasy sports platform Dream11 has won the title of Indian Premier League title with a bid of Rs 222 crore for a four-and-a-half-month deal to replace Chinese company Vivo. ) Has already been associated with the sponsorship of the IPL for the last few years.
IPL chairman Brijesh Patel told PTI-language, “Dream11 has acquired the rights with a bid of Rs 222 crore.” It was revealed that the Tata group did not make the final bid while the two education technology companies Byzus (201 crore) and Unacademy (170 crore) finished second and third respectively. Vivo and BCCI suspended the contract worth Rs 440 crore per year for this session due to the deadlock at the border between India and China.
The IPL will be played in the UAE from 19 September this time due to the Covid-19 epidemic. Questions are being raised about the investment of Chinese company Tencent in Dream 11 but BCCI insiders said it is less than 10 percent. Dream 11 is an Indian company founded by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth. A BCCI (Indian Cricket Board) source said, “Its founders and over 400 employees are Indian among the Dream 11 stakeholders.”
“Kalari Capital and Multiples Equity are his Indian investors,” said the official. Even the Dream 11 product can only be used exclusively by Indians. Tencent’s stake is only in the ‘one-digit’ issue. ” Last month, however, the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the BCCI demanded a probe against the company. It was said that the platform was linked to a fake T20 league in which the match held in a town in Punjab was telecast live as Sri Lanka. ACU investigations have revealed that the kit used by the players in the tournament had the Dream 11 logo and was broadcast on FanCode.
Both Dream 11 and Fancode are part of Dream Sports Group. Although the BCCI managed to manage a title sponsor in a short period of time, the amount it gets is less than that of Vivo. A BCCI official said, “There was a similar hope in this case.” Those who were hoping that the current bid would come close to Vivo were unaware of the current economic climate. The Tata group may have filed an expression of interest for this but they were not interested in bidding. ” An industry insider said, “BCCI wanted Tata’s presence as it would have increased credibility.”
BCCI insiders believe that in addition to the official sponsorship proceeds from the Dream 11 agreement, the deficit will be reduced to a large extent by coming into the sponsorship pool of unacademy and payment apps. Another senior BCCI official said, “Look at the time of four months and you will feel that it is not a bad deal for such a short time.”
