Chinese smartphone maker Vivo replaces PepsiCo as title sponsor of Indian Premier League

Reuters: Chinese smartphone maker Vivo replaced PepsiCo as the title sponsor of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) after the beverage giant suddenly snapped ties citing controversies surrounding the league.

PepsiCo had a five-year sponsorship contract with IPL, which was to end in 2017.

The decision to give Vivo the sponsorship was taken by the working committee of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in western Mumbai city on Sunday (18 October).

“The working committee has selected Vivo and they will be the title sponsor of IPL,” said IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla.

PepsiCo became title sponsors of the IPL in 2013 after they bid a whopping 3.96 billion rupees ($ 61.20 million) for five seasons.

Prior to Pepsi, DLF had paid two billion rupees ($ 30.90 million) to become title sponsors of the tournament since its inception in 2008 till 2012.

PepsiCo had decided to sever its ties with IPL after it ran into a series of controversies, including spot-fixing.

In a letter to BCCI, PepsiCo had expressed its intent to terminate its ties with the IPL for bringing ‘disrepute’ to cricket.

In 2013, three players, S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, were charged with spot-fixing, the term given to incidents in a match that don’t affect the final result but can easily attract illegal bets. A typical example in cricket is when a bowler delivers a wide or a no-ball.

More than two dozen people, including players, officials and bookmakers, were arrested by Indian police. Many were later charged with various offences.

A final blow came when a panel appointed by the Supreme Court in July this year, recommended that the franchise owners of two Indian Premier League (IPL) teams – Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals - be suspended for two years following the scandal. In August 2013, the BCCI moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court order. In October, the top court appointed the three-member Justice Mukul Mudgal committee to investigate, but not impose punishment.

On Sunday, the working committee also decided to auction the vacant slots of the two suspended IPL teams for two years.

“Working committee had been made four recommendations out of which one recommendation has been accepted by the working committee that the two vacant slots should be auctioned for two years. After two years, we will decide whether to go for two more franchise or we should confine to eight teams only,” said Shukla.

The tender will be issued on November 09 for the bidding.

Meanwhile, Nike was retained as the apparel sponsor of the Indian cricket team.