Fantasy sports platform Dream11 has won the title sponsorship rights to the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The platform has won the rights with a bid of Rs 222 crore, IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel told PTI.
The sponsorship rights were up for grabs as former title sponsor Chinese firm Vivo withdrew from the tournament following backlash over the India-China clash in Galwan Valley in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed. The valuation of Vivo's annual contract with the IPL was Rs 440 crore and BCCI was expecting bids at a similar range for this year's title sponsorship rights. However, the winning bid was just over half of the previous sponsorship deal.
Dream11 is a fantasy sports platform founded in 2008. It offers fantasy cricket, football, kabaddi and NBA. It was already part of the official sponsors panel at the IPL and has a user base that has grown to over 30 million. It runs an online game where users create a virtual team and earn points based on the real-life performances of players.
Dream 11 beat out competition from PayTM, Unacademy, BYJU's, Reliance Jio among other big names to become the title sponsor of the IPL. It also also boosts the fantasy league run by Dream 11 which is organised alongside the IPL. According to reports, while Unacademy had placed a bid of Rs 210 crore, Tatas bid Rs 180 crore and BYJU's bid Rs 125 crore.
Earlier, however, companies such as Paytm, BYJU’s and Dream11 had flak over being funded by Chinese companies and there have been calls to drop these companies from IPL’s sponsorship.
The Indian Premier League tournament this year, which will be the thirteenth season since its inception in 2008, will be held in the United Arab Emirates between September 19 to November 10, 2020. Three stadiums have been earmarked to host the competition. The 53-day tournament will witness 10-afternoon matches starting at 15:30 IST while the evening matches will start at 19:30 IST.
IPL 2020 marks the competitive return for Indian cricketers following the break imposed over the coronavirus outbreak. This includes former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and batsman Suresh Raina who announced their retirement from international cricket last week.