BCCI signs up Saudi Tourism as IPL sponsor; replaces Unacademy

Sponsorship estimated at Rs 60 crore per season; Saudi Tourism may extend partnership to other BCCI tournaments

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has roped in Saudi Tourism Authority, it said on Tuesday, as an official partner or sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Saudi Tourism will replace edtech company Unacademy, which last year had indicated that it would not associate with the IPL as a sponsor this year.

The BCCI said on Tuesday that Saudi Tourism was the second Saudi entity to sponsor the IPL after Saudi Aramco was onboarded recently as the sponsor of the Orange Cap and Purple Cap, which are given to the leading batsman and wicketkeeper at the T20 tournament.

While the BCCI did not specify the tenure of Saudi Tourism's IPL sponsorship or that of Saudi Aramco, it is expected to run for multiple years beginning from the 2023 edition of the IPL. In a media interaction on Tuesday, Saudi Tourism APAC President Alhasan Aldabbagh said that it was talking with the BCCI to extend its association to tournaments beyond the IPL.

"The IPL has a massive reach and is keenly followed in India and internationally," Aldabbagh said. "While our attention is on the IPL right now, we are in dialogue with the BCCI to see how we can extend this partnership further," he said.

The Saudi Tourism sponsorship is estimated at Rs 60 crore per season, according to media industry sources, in line with what most other official partners of the IPL are paying. Some of other official partners of the IPL include Dream11, Cred, Upstox, Rupay and Swiggy, whose contracts will conclude after this year's IPL. The Tata group, which is the title sponsor of the IPL, having replaced smartphone maker Vivo for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, will also see its contract end this year.

The board is talking to potential partners for the IPL as well as the Indian national team, persons in the know said, having announced the induction of Kewal Kiran Clothing, the maker of Killer Jeans, as the official partner of the Indian cricket team last month. This was a period of five months (till May 31, 2023) and saw the apparel company replacing gaming firm MPL as a jersey sponsor. The other Team India jersey sponsor Byju's, however, has been asked to continue till the end of March 2023, after which a replacement could be announced by the BCCI.

In September last year, the BCCI had replaced Paytm with Mastercard as the title sponsor for all international and domestic cricket matches organised by the Board on home ground. The agreement would run till the end of 2023 and would see Mastercard continuing to pay Rs 3.8 crore per match, as per the original terms of the deal between BCCI and Paytm, persons in the know said. Paytm’s original four-year (2019-2023) deal was worth Rs 326.80 crore.