The BCCI machinery is working as swiftly and efficiently as ever: Rahul Johri

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) already has so many issues on its hand to resolve and Star India decided to add to it. Rahul Johri, the chief executive of the BCCI, in an interview with The Economic Times answered questions related to the sponsorship of the Indian cricket team and also shared the future plans of the board.

Recently Star announced that they won’t be renewing their contract with the BCCI for the sponsorship for the Indian cricket team. This has triggered BCCI to put out a tender. Rahul was asked a question regarding the uncertainties of the future tours to which the Chief Executive of the BCCI answered confidently tabling out all the tours of India from England in 2017 to South Africa in 2022.

He said, “We have already mapped out a detailed schedule of tours starting with the ICC Champions Trophy in England in June 2017 all the way up India’s tour to South Africa in March 2022.”

Rahul said that Indian cricket team is the most attractive commercial opportunity out in the market. “Sponsorship of the Indian cricket team is arguably the most attractive commercial opportunity available to companies and brands anywhere in world sport today. India plays the most matches in a year of any nation and therefore the opportunity to sponsor the team offers a brand the maximum exposure across cricket that it can get. The team has a packed calendar of games scheduled all the way up to 2022. As laid out in the Future Tours Programme,”

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He further went on to plot out the schedule of the Indian team. He said, “Team India will play 259 international matches between June 2017 and March 2022 comprising 62 Tests, 152 ODIs and 45 T20 internationals. This includes key world events like the Cricket World Cup in England in 2019 and the World T20 in Australia in 2020. With India playing 14 series at home and more than 20 abroad, sponsorship of the team offers a brand a clear balance of exposure domestically and overseas.”

The same information provided is added to the details in the tender and was confirmed by Johri. He also mentioned that there is a massive attraction towards this tender. “The tender has attracted a tremendous amount of interest from companies and brands operating across a diverse range of industries. With Indian team topping all three formats in this cricket season, the opportunity is all the more lucrative,” Rahul was quoted saying.

He was also asked about the media rights auction which postponed and will this affect the IPL in any way. To which Johri answered: “With the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators now in place, preparations for the IPL are well underway. The Committee is comprised of eminent personalities who have now taken charge of the process. They have given us the go-ahead to proceed with tenders.”

“We have floated multiple RFPs for services for the 2017 edition of the IPL and announced the tender for the India team sponsorship rights. Moreover, 18 companies have already picked up the media rights tender with many more continuing to express an interest. We’ll be announcing the tender for the media rights shortly. As you can see, the BCCI machinery is working as swiftly and efficiently as ever.” Johri said.

Star India publicly made its intentions clear and because of that other sponsors may have a thing or two to worry about. But the BCCI official was negative about it and said that the board has always given way more to its sponsors than promised. “Cricket has always been among the most sought-after sports commercially for broadcasters and sponsors, be it a BCCI-owned property like the IPL or ICC events like the World Cup. We have always delivered immense value to our partners, sponsors, and broadcasters.” He concluded.

The tender is based at a price of 2.2 crores and there are various bids already coming in from many companies. The bidders have time until noon of March 7 to submit their bids.