The Hindu Business Line : DLF bags title sponsorship rights of IPL Twenty20

Mumbai, Feb. 13 Real-estate company DLF Ltd seems to have got the cherry on the top. The Delhi-based developer has bagged the exclusive title sponsorship rights of the Indian Premier League at an excess of Rs 200 crore for a period of five years.

DLF won this through an open bid process with the highest bid of Rs 40 crore per annum. The DLF Indian Premier League, as it will be known, will host about 59 Twenty20 matches over 44 days, beginning April 18.

The other bidders, World Sports Group, bidding on behalf of Hero Honda Motors (India) Ltd, had made a bid for Rs 30.60 crore per annum, while Percept D’Mark bid for Rs 30.16 crore per annum.

The third bidder in the fray, 21st Century, quit the process midway due to non-compliance with some of the clauses of the bid.

“I am truly happy to have India’s leading real-estate developer DLF as our title sponsors as they happen to share a common vision with the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) to make the Indian Premier League, one of finest cricketing leagues in the world. It is exciting to have an eclectic mix of elite Indian businessmen, Bollywood personalities and corporates as our allies, working collectively as one to ensure the success of the IPL,” said Mr Lalit Modi, IPL’s Chairman & Commissioner.

Mr Rajeev Talwar, DLF’s Group Executive Director, said: “This is a game which has mass appeal all over India and both cricket, as well as DLF will grow hand-in-hand.”

The auction of around 85 Indian and international players is scheduled to take place on February 20 through the open bid process in association with IMG – the sports, media and entertainment agency. The players are up for auction between the exclusive franchisee-right owners of the eight cities – Shah Rukh Khan (Kolkata), Preity Zinta (Mohali), RIL Pvt Ltd (Mumbai), GMR Holdings (Delhi), UB Group (Bangalore), India Cements Ltd (Chennai), Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad) and Emerging Media (Jaipur).

Earlier, sports broadcaster Sony Max and World Sport Group bagged IPL’s global media and production rights for over $ 1 billion for a period of 10 years. The set of matches to be played this year will generate around 60 hours of advertising space for Sony.

Related Stories:
Future Group pulls out of IPL bidding for title sponsorship
Twenty20: IPL reaps a bumper with Rs 2,800-cr bids

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