EdTech company Unacademy appears to be keen for the IPL’s title sponsorship rights after Chinese smartphone company Vivo stepped down weeks ago due to strained India and China relations. Vivo annually paid Rs 440 crore, but now BCCI is looking for a lesser value between Rs 300 to 350 crore for a period of four months and 13 days.
BCCI official has confirmed the EdTech company’s interest, picking of bid papers, but didn’t say anything more. “I can confirm that Unacademy has shown interest and picked up bid papers. I have heard they will be submitting a bid and ar.e pretty serious. So, Patanjali if they bid, will have competition,” the senior official told PTI. He also said that Unacademy is part of the league’s central sponsorship pool with other companies like Dream 11 and Paytm.
Central sponsorship doesn’t include jersey rights. The BCCI official explained that jersey logo could only be of title sponsor and apart from that various team’s sponsors. “If they become title sponsors, it will give them rights on various branding properties,” he said. “The prominent space in the backdrop board in the post-presentation area, the backdrop in the dugout, and boundary rope. A lot of these branding opportunities, apart from digital and media opportunities, are part of the partnership.”
Unacademy, unlike other Edtech apps in India, has a 100% Indian investment. Moreover, it joins the likes of BYJU’s which recently became new jersey sponsors for the Indian cricket team. The BCCI in an official statement had said that India’s leading education and learning app BYJU’s is the official Team India sponsor from September 5, 2019, until March 31, 2022. BYJU’s took overall obligations of the then team sponsor OPPO mobiles India private limited.
