Vivo’s exit from IPL a ‘blip’, no financial crisis for BCCI: Sourav Ganguly

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly has dismissed notions that the suspension of the Indian
Premier League’s title sponsorship deal with Vivo may lead to a financial
crisis for India’s cricket board.

“I wouldn’t
call it as a financial crisis. It’s just a little bit of a blip,” reported PTI quoting Ganguly. The BBCI chief was addressing a webinar.

The former
Indian skipper said that the BCCI is well equipped to handle such situations and
that there are always alternative plans to fall upon.

“BCCI, it’s
a very a strong foundation – the game, the players, the administrators in the
past have made this game so strong that BCCI is able to handle all these blips.
You keep your other options open. It is like Plan A and Plan B. Sensible people
do it. Sensible brands do it. Sensible corporate do it,” he said.

“And the
only way you can do it is by being professionally strong over a period of time.
Big things don’t come overnight. And big things don’t go away overnight. Your
preparation for a long period of time gets (you) ready for losses, gets you
ready for successes.”

In a
statement on Thursday, BCCI confirmed that the title sponsorship deal with Vivo
was mutually agreed to be put on hold for IPL’s 2020 edition. The two parties
are reportedly working on a new three-year deal starting 2021.

The move comes
amid a wave of anti-China sentiment in the country following clashes between the
Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army at the Line of Actual
Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh in June.

Vivo had bagged
the title sponsorship rights in a five-year deal from 2018 to 2022 for a reported
sum of Rs 2190 crore, just shy of Rs 440 crore a year.

The 2020 IPL will be hosted in the UAE and will be played from September 19 to November 10.