BCCI Unlikely To Sever Ties With IPL Title Sponsors VIVO If Exit Clause Favours Chinese Firm

There has been a nationwide call to boycott Chinese goods and their firms business interest in India after the violent June 15 Galwan Valley clash in eastern Ladakh sector. Soon after the June 15 incident, the BCCI had stated that they would take a call on reviewing the sponsorship arrangements with Chinese entities in the IPL.

Photo: @IPL (Twitter)

Amid uncertainty over when will the BCCI will convene a General council meeting to decide on the fate of the Indian Premier League and take a call on the existing sponsorship commitments with Chinese firms, a BCCI official on conditions of anonymity revealed that the Indian cricket board is unlikely to sever ties with IPL title sponsors VIVO if the "exit clause" favours the Chinese mobile phone company "We still don't know about fate of T20 World Cup, Asia Cup, so how can we just have a meeting? Yes, we need to discuss sponsorship but we never used the word cancel or terminate," a senior BCCI official, who also sits in IPL GC meetings, told PTI on conditions of anonymity. There has been a nationwide call to boycott Chinese goods and their firms business interest in India after the violent June 15 Galwan Valley clash in eastern Ladakh sector which led to the killing of 20 of Indian Army soldiers.Soon after the June 15 incident, the BCCI had stated that they would take a call on reviewing the sponsorship arrangements with Chinese entities in the IPL. Meanwhile the Union government has banned 59 Chinese apps including the controversial Tik ToK sending across a strong message to China amid the ongoing tensions on the Line of Actual Control with them in the Ladakh sector. "We said we will review sponsorship. Review means that we need to check all the modalities of the contract. If the 'Exit Clause' favours VIVO more, why should we terminate a Rs 440 crore per year contract. We will only terminate if 'Exit Clause' favours us," he added. As per sources placed close to this development, it has been learnt that some BCCI officials are of the view that unless VIVO backs out on its own in what has unfolded after the Galwan Valley clash, the board should honour the remainder of the contract, which ends in 2022. Sudden termination of contract could mean that BCCI may have to cough up substantial compensation. Also, there is no guarantee that BCCI will get a short-time matcher in such an economically hostile environment. However, the likes of PayTM (with Alibaba as investor) or Dream XI, BYJUs and SWIGGY, who have investment from Chinese video game company Tencent, might not have to worry as they are Indian entities. "Taking note of the border skirmish that resulted in the martyrdom of our brave jawans, the IPL Governing Council has convened a meeting next week to review IPL's various sponsorship deals," the official IPL twitter handle had stated on Friday, June 19. However, after nearly two weeks, a meeting has not been scheduled and more importantly, at least two GC members confirmed to PTI that they have not been told anything. "I have called the IPL chairman (Brijesh Patel) and CEO (Rahul Johri) after I saw the tweet. But till date, I haven't been intimated about any meeting. Possibly, they want to have a big meeting once the T20 World Cup is officially postponed," one of the veteran GC members said.