Chinese smartphone maker Vivo secured the title sponsorship of the Indian Premier League for the next five years by placing a bid of a "whopping" Rs 2,199 crore ($330.5M), according to Gaurav Laghate of the ECONOMIC TIMES. The bid, close to Rs 440 crore ($66.1M) per season, is at a "267% premium" over the base price of Rs 120 crore ($18M) set by the BCCI. This is "also the biggest sponsorship deal in the history of any sport in India." Incidentally, Oppo, "which trumped Vivo in securing Indian cricket team's jersey rights earlier this year," was the second-highest bidder at Rs 1,430 crore ($215M). In the previous deal, PepsiCo agreed to pay Rs 396.8 crore for five years -- about Rs 79.4 crore per year -- for the league to be known as the Pepsi IPL (
ET, 6/27). The PTI reported Vivo held the title rights for the '16 and '17 seasons. That deal was pegged at an estimated Rs 100 crore a year. BCCI acting President C.K. Khanna said, "We received an overwhelming response for the title sponsorship rights and we are glad to have Vivo back on board" (
PTI, 6/27). THE DRUM's Taruka Srivastav reported Vivo is "continuously evolving its marketing campaigns to boost the popularity" of the IPL. For the IPL's 10th anniversary this season, Vivo launched the limited-edition V5Plus smartphone for fans and also carried out a VIVOIPL 2017 trophy tour in 16 cities. Vivo recently signed a "landmark" five-year title
sponsorship deal with Pro Kabaddi (
THE DRUM, 6/27).
