IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel
The IPL Governing Council Chairman Brijesh Patel believes that Dream11's upgradation from an Official Partner of the Indian Premier League to Title Sponsor "is a great testament to the brand IPL". Patel's statement came after the Governing Council on Wednesday officially announced Dream11 as their new title sponsor for the 2020 season.
Dream11 is an Indian company based in Mumbai which is officially partnering 19 sports leagues along with 6 IPL franchises.
"We welcome Dream11 on board as Title Sponsor for the 2020 edition of the IPL. Dream11 upgrading their association from an Official Partner to Title Sponsors is a great testament to the brand IPL. Dream11 as a fantasy sports brand will only grow the engagement of the IPL with its fans. As a digital brand it will give them leverage to create exciting online engagement for fans sitting at home and watching the matches. We look forward to delivering great value to Dream11," Patel said.
Dream11 had won the IPL title sponsorship rights on Tuesday with a bid of Rs 222 crore. The other two education technology companies - BYJUs (201 crore) and Unacademy (170 crore) - came second and third respectively while the Tata group didn't place a final bid.
Mr Harsh Jain, CEO & Co-Founder, Dream Sports (Dream11) said: “The launch of IPL in 2008 gave birth to the idea of Dream11. As avid sports fans, we wanted to offer fantasy cricket to IPL fans to help them further engage with the sport they love and showcase their sports knowledge & skill. Being a proud homegrown Indian brand that is made in India, by Indians and exclusively for Indian sports fans, we would like to thank the BCCI for giving us an opportunity to become the Title Sponsor of IPL, which in our opinion is the world’s greatest sports property. We believe that ‘Dream11 IPL’ also perfectly defines what IPL is all about: every team fielding its Dream11 team culminating in the IPL finals determining The Dream11. We are happy to continue building our partnership with BCCI & IPL to further promote sports fan engagement in India, and look forward to 10 Crore+ Indians making their Dream11 for every Dream11 IPL match.”
However, the IPL statement pertaining to Dream11 announcement on Wednesday, did not specify whether they will hold on to the rights for the next two editions.
"It was always clear that the highest bidder may not get the title rights (it was specified by the BCCI before accepting the Expression of Interest from bidders)," a veteran BCCI official, privy to the development, told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
"Having said that, Dream11 has bid the highest and are still favourites to get it, a few issues are still being ironed out before an official announcement comes," he added.
