Becoming a sponsor of Team India will now be expensive! BCCI increased the price of title rights

Knews Desk– The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has significantly increased the prices of title sponsorship and associate partnership rights of Team India’s domestic matches. The board has increased the reserve price for title sponsorship by more than 15 percent to Rs 4.9 crore per match. It is clear that now to become the official sponsor of the Indian cricket team, companies will have to invest more than before. According to the information, the current title sponsor was paying Rs 4.2 crore per match, whereas in the new tender this amount has been increased to Rs 4.9 crore per match. At the same time, the base price of Associate Partner Rights has also been increased from Rs 82 lakh to Rs 95 lakh per match. BCCI believes that considering the strong brand value of Indian cricket and the growing commercial potential, it is appropriate to increase the value of these rights.

The new title sponsorship cycle will last until March 2028. During this period, the Indian team is likely to play about 35 international domestic matches. If the rights of all the matches are sold as per the base price, then the minimum value of this deal can reach around Rs 170 crore. In the last cycle, the title sponsor had paid a total of Rs 235.2 crore for 56 matches. BCCI has also started a new process for associate partnerships. The base price of each Associate Partner slot has been fixed at Rs 33.3 crore. In the previous sponsorship cycle, companies like SBI Life, Campa Cola and Atomberg were the associate partners of the Indian team. This time too many big companies are expected to participate in the race.

BCCI has invited fresh bids from companies for title sponsorship rights. The last date for submitting applications for title sponsorship has been fixed as August 13, while for associate partnership rights, companies can apply till August 25. The board is trying to better coordinate these rights with other major commercial agreements that expire in March 2028. However, this process has started at a time when questions are being raised about the commercial potential of bilateral cricket, especially Test and ODI matches. Advertisers are increasingly attracted to T20 cricket as this format sees higher viewership and digital engagement. Despite this, BCCI is confident that due to the popularity of the Indian cricket team, big brands will show interest in these rights.

Earlier, the front sponsorship rights of the Indian team’s jersey had also made a record. Apollo Tires had acquired these rights for Rs 579 crore, whereas last time the same deal was done for Rs 358 crore. This bidding process saw tough competition between many big companies, which further strengthened the brand value of Indian cricket. According to the Sports Market Report, the sports sponsorship market in India is continuously growing and cricket has the highest share in it. This is why BCCI is working on a strategy to generate maximum revenue from its major commercial properties. Now all eyes will be on which company emerges as the new title sponsor of the Indian cricket team in the new bidding process and whether BCCI is successful in making a successful deal at its increased base price.