Sahara to re-consider Team India Sponsorship

[Sachinism]

It may seem hard to believe, but it's true. There are no takers for the Indian cricket team's BCCI In a huge setback for the richest cricket board in the world (BCCI) - which had floated the tenders for the logo on November 2 - the last date of submission (November 24) has arrived, with not a single bid being tendered. According to sources in the board, the interested parties were supposed to deposit a security amount of Rs 50 crore by November 22, two days before the actual date of submitting the bid. When no one came forward till Sunday evening, the BCCI was forced to call off its marketing committee's meeting, slated to be held in Mumbai on November 25, where the bids were supposed to be opened. This sudden apathy of India Inc could be due to lack of interest in the overexposed game and also because of the high base price being demanded per match. BCCI is seeking Rs 3 crore for each Test, ODI and T20 match. From 170 international matches India are expected to play in the coming four years, BCCI was hoping to raise at least Rs 510 crore from the deal. Of course, the bid amount would have been much higher. The current sponsors, Sahara India, have paid around Rs 400 crore over the past four years for the team's jersey logo. "It's an unfortunate situation, but we hope to get a sponsor soon," a top board official, who didn't wish to be named, told TOI on Monday. The BCCI is now planning to float new tenders, where the base price for Test, ODI and T20 matches will be lowered. The current logo sponsorship with Sahara ends on December 31, 2009 and if the board doesn't get a new sponsor within a month or so, BCCI will be forced to continue with Sahara for some more time. "We can't tell when the board will float the tenders again, but the marketing committee will meet soon to take a fresh look at the situation," another senior BCCI official said. TOI had first reported that the high base price of the matches came as a dampener for prospective sponsors. In fact, even some multinationals, who normally would have grabbed the opportunity, have decided to stay away for the time being. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/top-stories/No-takers-for-Team-India-sponsorship/articleshow/5262362.cms

[kabira]

Oh well, good on corporates

[Sachinism]

The only worry is that if there are no sponsors, they might organise more circuis cricket to create revenue :((

[kabira]

^no its for all forms of cricket, Test, T20 and ODI

[jukkha]

What about a seperate sponsor for Test and another one for T20/50 over? or even 3 different ones for each form of the game? I bet that would work well and attract other corporates too.

[Fontaine]

How about getting sponsorship from "Road Grade Cement" Ltd.? For the patta flat tracks they bat on at home? That way their logo could be: "Road Grade Cement, for the flattest tracks in the sub continent!"

[ViruRulez]

I am more interested to know if BCCI has increased the sponsorship rates too. I think one of the reason there are sometimes a bit less sponsors nowadays is because there is just too much cricket happening and sponsors have just too much things to sponsor. With the huge overdose of cricket, it is becoming too much cricket to sponsor for companies. And India is going through a recession alongwith the world and so companies are spending their money wisely as Indians normally do. But they would soon get the sponsor I think. Moreover, it used to big Sahara logos previously but I dont remember such big logos nowadays and so the sponsors dont get much advertisement maybe.

[Sachinism]

Should the size of the logo really matter? As long as it is visible then its all good.

[Celeste]

Should the size of the logo really matter? As long as it is visible then its all good.

Size does matter.

[Sachinism]

Size does matter.

I'm not suggesting they put on a flea-sized logo. But it doesn't have to cover the whole shirt. Anyone who follows the game within a few games will know who the sponsor is either way. Even if you don't watch regularly if you see it once, its likely to have the same effect as a much larger logo

[Dinx - the Jinx]

when the application form itself costs 5 lakhs... this is expected.. as viru mentioned.. there are too many options available for sponsors.. so instead of buying a team sponsorship for a 4 year period, they may be thinking of distributing the money to get better mileage..

[Guest Hiten.]

Not surprising. BCCI is right in having a higher tag price and corporates are right in refusing to pay such hefty sponsor fees amidst the recession period. Most of the corporates are running into quarterly losses or have a very small margin of profits. Nothing to worry about though.

[ViruRulez]

BCCI is seeking Rs 3 crore for each Test, ODI and T20 match. From 170 international matches India are expected to play in the coming four years, BCCI was hoping to raise at least Rs 510 crore from the deal. Of course, the bid amount would have been much higher. The current sponsors, Sahara India, have paid around Rs 400 crore over the past four years for the team's jersey logo.

Ok the above lines explains it all I suppose. BCCI is increasing the sponsor fee to 510 crores for next 4 years while it was 400 crores in the last 4 years. And the recession is making the corporates with the increase I suppose as it is not the right time to invest enhanced fees. Moreover, the IPL teams itself cost the franchises between 300 and 500 crores in the auction and that is ownership of the team for a 10 year period. So, why would the corporate not buy an IPL team for 10 years instead of paying a higher amount for just a team logo for 4 years. IPL team owners get a lot more publicity than the sponsor of the Indian team. He gets full 45 days + 15 days (if team qualifies for CL) i.e total 2 months of extreme publicity a year. And still all the IPL team owners are in profit and make money from the IPL. So, Mallyas, Ambanis, Wadias etc. would go for IPl team ownership instead because it is both advertisement of their brand + earning profit in IPL whereas in the logo they are just investing with much lesser publicity.

[ViruRulez]

when the application form itself costs 5 lakhs... this is expected.. as viru mentioned.. there are too many options available for sponsors.. so instead of buying a team sponsorship for a 4 year period, they may be thinking of distributing the money to get better mileage..

:dito: Even an IPL team costs them around 30 crores to 45 crores a year which means 120 crores to 180 crores while logo sponsorship for the Indian team would cost 510 crores. And if you own the IPL team you get to put logos, billboards and loads of ads wherever you want in your team members. And that too for 2 months of non-stop cricket (considering the team qualifies for CL) in tournament which is followed devotedly by most cricket fans worldwide. So, it is not profitable as a business proposition more so due to recession.

[SachDan]

Marketing committee to meet on Dec 2

Mumbai: Has the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India found a new sponsor? It seems so, if one were to go by the developments on the marketing front of the Board. DNA has learnt that the BCCI has reconvened the marketing committee meeting that was abruptly postponed after the Board's tender notice failed to evoke any response. Though none of the BCCI officials was willing to come on record on this issue, a source confirmed to this newspaper that the members of the committee have been asked to come to Mumbai on December 2. It has been learnt that the Board has managed to negotiate a deal with a sponsor. The name could be announced after the meeting. It was not immediately clear who may have bagged the prime place on the Indian players' jerseys but there are indications that the Board may continue with Sahara, the current sponsors. On Wednesday, marketing committee member Lalit Modi had told this paper that the negotiations with certain parties are on. On Thursday Modi could not contacted but another official said the meeting could have been called to announce the continuation with Sahara till the new sponsor is found and finalise on the modalities for floating fresh tenders. "We will have to find out how we The problem for BCCI is lack of time. The deal with Sahara ends on December 31 and the team leaves for Bangladesh on January 2. It may not be realistically possible for the Board to find a sponsor in the little time left and have its logo printed on the team jerseys. As Modi said on Wednesday, at least three months are needed to make the new jerseys. There are speculations over whether the Board will reduce base money it has fixed for a match. BCCI expects Rs 3 crore from a match in the new deal. Currently it gets Rs 2 crore.

Also read somewhere that the BCCI has decided to extend Sahara's contract by 3 months, till March 31st.This means the Sahara logo will stay on Team India's jerseys for a while. LINK

[Sachinism]

Man its gonna suck when theres a new logo out, gotta buy a new jersey. I haven't bought the current one yet, I think I might wait.

[Feed]

BCCI extends Sahara contract by six months Struggling to find a new sponsor for the Indian team, the Board of Control for Cricket in India extend its existing contract with Sahara by another six months. More...

[Jersey #10]

What the hell is up with Indian IT industry? don't they want to promote their products??? :dontknow: and It's disgusting to know that the big daddy BCCI is struggling to get sponsors :omg: well had they not started giving out huge returns to IPL sponsors, those sponsors would have been competing to sponsor right now... Stupid IPl is effecting the national team

[Sachinism]

I thought it was extended 3 months, now 6 months, looks like they're really struggling to find a sponsor

[kabira]

Sahara deserves to be our sponsors. I think they have sponsored lot of sportsman, seems one company that loves sports other than cricket. They are sponsoring women team too. They started sports award this year to recognize sportsman other than cricket.