India’s jersey sponsors Byjus is considering existing as team India’s jersey sponsor and asked the board to encash them with a Rs 140 crore bank guarantee. Star India on the other hand, who has been broadcasting the matches seemed a discount of Rs. 130 crore that runs till March. The virtual Apex Council meeting lasted over an hour which these important issues were discussed.
As per BCCI, “Only Byju’s and Star India’s issues were discussed in the meeting but that also took well over an hour. It was a serious matter involving millions of dollars so naturally, it took time”
India’s jersey sponsor Byju’s wants the Indian cricket board, BCCI to give them a bank guarantee of Rs. 140 crores to do what they have already promised. The giant ed-tech company has fired a lot of their employees previously and even wishes to lay off about 2500 of their workforce to become more profitable.
Earlier, the board asked the ed-tech company to continue till March 2023 but their agreement is till November 2023. The brand replaced Oppo in 2019 at USD 35 million. They were the sponsors of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar this year as well.
Why is Byjus considering exiting?
The Byjus after becoming the jersey sponsor experienced a boom and renewed its partnership in July 2023. Despite having deals from FIFA World Cup and Lionel Messi, the company is thinking of cutting costs. They are paying already more than Oppo by 10%.
On the other hand, the Star is the current holder of the media rights for the Indian cricket team’s home season. The renewal for it will come around March and Star will have to compete with major players.
Byjus requested BCCI termination after India’s T20 World Cup exit. The BCCI extended the timeline by 6 months postponing it till March 2023. However, the brand wants to get out of this deal desperately.
The BCCI earlier lost three big sponsors in the last six months. The BCCI’s domestic rights owner PayTM transferred the deal to Mastercard. Kiltmakers MPL passed its rights to KKCL and MPL transferred the rights to Killer jeans. The brand now sponsors the T20 jersey during their Sri Lanka series.
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