The England cricket board signed a landmark five-year TV rights deal with Sky Sports on Friday that netted the governing body over a billion pounds. It was the latest major deal to be signed in the world of cricket, proving the sport is in excellent financial health.
Here we look at major deals signed in the sport of cricket recently.
INDIA SHIRT DEAL
The Chinese mobile-phone giant, Oppo Mobiles, forked out over $150million (Dhs550million) over five years with the BCCI to carry their logo on the front of the India’s men’s, women’s and youth teams’ kits from April 1 this year.
Oppo replaced long-term sponsor Star India, which was paying the BCCI a relative pittance – US$290,000 (Dhs1m) and US$10,000 (Dhs37,000) per match for bilateral and ICC matches respectively.
Team India players pose with the new Oppo-sponsored jersey.
IPL TITLE RIGHTS
Rival Chinese mobile manufacturers VIVO were outbid for the BCCI rights but they retained the Indian Premier League’s title sponsorship for the next five years with a whopping Dhs1.25billion (US$340million), an astonishing 300-plus per cent more than the previous contract.
To put that in perspective Barclays were paying $51m (Dhs190m) a year for their sponsorship of the English Premier League – around 25% less than VIVO are paying for the IPL. The deal was signed this week.
Vivo has retained title sponsorship for IPL 2018-22.
PAKISTAN SUPER LEAGUE’S SIXTH FRANCHISE
Dubai-based Schon group brought the new Multan-based PSL T20 franchise for $5.2 million per year earlier this month. The bidding process attracted over 30 prospective bidders aspiring to own the coveted sixth team.
The PSL’s first two editions featured teams from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta with Multan to join the third edition starting in February 2018.
PSL’s first two editions had teams from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta.
SOUTH AFRICAN T20 GLOBAL LEAGUE
Hong Kong-based City Sports bought the Bloemfontein franchise in South Africa’s new T20 Global League which starts in November, for a reported amount of $100 million (Dhs400m) over 10 years.
They are just one of eight successful bidders out of 26 bids and 150 expressions of interest with other owners including Bollywood star and Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan, GMR Sports – who own the Delhi Daredevils – and Dubai-based media mogul Ajay Sethi along with PSL owners Fawad Rana (Lahore Qalandars) and Javed Afridi (Peshawar Zalmi).
Team owners, representatives & marquee players pose.