IPL 2021: Governing Council hints Vivo's return as title sponsors with latest press release for auction

The confusion surrounding the title sponsorship of IPL 2021 has taken yet another surprising turn. Recent reports have suggested that Vivo is all set to walk out of its five-year deal with the fancy T20 league as its title sponsors two years before the completion. In 2017, the Chinese mobile manufacturing company had signed a five-year deal worth Rs 2,199 crore to become the title sponsor of IPL.

They were paying Rs 440 crore to the BCCI every year after replacing PepsiCo, which had walked out of a Rs 396 crore deal in 2016. But the relation between Vivo and the BCCI took a turn for the worse last year when they suspended their ties for IPL 2020 which was held in the UAE.  The decision came in the wake of the deadly scuffle between the Indian and Chinese armed forces on the border.

In the wake of the incident on the border, there were widespread calls to boycott Chinese products in the country. At the same time, reports had suggested that Vivo pulled out of the deal because of financial reasons. The mobile manufacturers were looking for a reduction in the sponsorship sum due to the Covid-19 disruption and eventually decided to suspend the ties for 2020 season.

Following their decision, Dream11 had acquired the title sponsorship. But speculations were rife that Vivo would return as the sponsors for this year’s IPL before the recent reports suggested otherwise. According to media reports, they were looking for an exit from the IPL by transferring its title sponsorship rights to interested bidders, which may include fantasy gaming platform Dream11 and edu-tech start-up Unacademy.

Is Vivo still the IPL title sponsor?

Amidst all the reports and confusion surrounding Vivo’s association with IPL, the IPL Governing Council’s official press release for the upcoming auction has caught everyone’s attention. In the press release, the Governing Council has mentioned the Chinese mobile makers’ name repeatedly. The latest release might be the biggest hint that Vivo has still not ended its association with the lucrative league.

The press released was published on IPL’s website on Thursday (February 11). Interestingly, in their previous release which was published on February 5, IPL had not mentioned the name of any sponsor before IPL.

“The VIVO IPL 2021 Player Auction list is out with a total of 292 cricketers set to go under the hammer in Chennai on February 18th, 2021. 1114 cricketers had initially registered for the auction. The final list was then pruned after the eight franchises submitted their shortlist of players,” stated the latest release from IPL GC.