The "slowing down of the economy" has hit the Board of Control for Cricket in India "hard," according to Indranil Basu of the TIMES OF INDIA. The board "has been forced to slash the Team India sponsorship's base price" for each Test, ODI and T20 match to Rs 1.5 crore ($238,000) from Rs 2.5 crore, the base price in '10. The rights will be sold for a period of three years -- from January '14 through March '17. The "huge reduction in the base price seems to have stemmed from BCCI's lack of confidence in getting enough bidders at a higher base price." However, the board officials "rejected this assumption." A BCCI official said, "This is a move to attract more sponsors when the bidding happens but the team logo sponsorship is not being under-valued at all." The BCCI "floated the tender after Sahara decided against continuing with the team's sponsorship" after '13. The logo rights "include the right to be called the 'Official Team Sponsor' and to display a commercial logo on the team clothing of the senior cricket team, the U-19 men's team, the men's A-team and the women's team" (TIMES OF INDIA, 11/14).
