MUMBAI: The cricket industry went into a tizzy on Friday morning, questioning the ‘work ethics’ of certain unidentified individuals in the ecosystem who chose to selectively point out to the media that BCCI’s official jersey sponsor Byju’s owes the cricket board a pending amount of Rs 86.21 crore.
Exactly three years ago, in September 2019, Byju’s had replaced Oppo on the Team India jersey and that contract is now awaiting a renewal. Both BCCI and Byju’s have been in discussion to extend the contract and only a “formal signing of the agreement” is awaited.
Reacting to media reports that Byju’s owes BCCI money to the tune of Rs 86.21 crore, industry sources told TOI: “The money pending is for the number of matches after the contract expired and while the new contract is ready, it hasn’t been signed yet. So, the pending amount can only be released once the contract is signed”.
Top sources in the BCCI too agreed that Byju’s has cleared all its past payments to the cricket board, as per the existing contract, and also admitted that the cricket board is in possession of a Bank Guarantee from Byju’s that is far exceeding the “pending amount” as quoted in the media.
“If it is true that Byju’s amount is pending, then all BCCI has to do is encash the Bank Guarantee. Why is it not doing that? Obviously because the previous contract is over and the new contract – while it has been agreed upon – hasn’t been signed yet. No matter how eager both parties are to renew the contract, how can payments be made without it being signed first?” say those in the know.
BCCI officials have been lamenting the past 12 hours about how wrong and selective news leaks are harming their own interests in recent times. The amount leaked to the media — Rs 86.21 crore — is so specific that someone in direct knowledge of it leaked it hours after the BCCI’s apex council meeting got over and those in the know say the information is wrong because there’s no contract in place yet.
“At a time when the BCCI wants the Supreme Court to look at it as a body that functions as per the constitution and is clear of any wrongdoing, such news reports don’t help. The BCCI needs to come out and clear the air here because these kinds of news reports don’t just harm their own ecosystem but harm the reputation of its own partners,” say those tracking developments.
TOI sent BCCI’s media team an email with a request for president Sourav Ganguly to reply to two questions that are as follows: a) Has the BCCI renewed its existing contract with Byjyu’s? And has the renewed contract been signed by both parties? b) Is the BCCI in possession of a Bank Guarantee from Byju’s that far supersedes the “pending amount” as quoted by the media on Thursday and Friday.
There’s been no response to the email yet and the story will be updated as soon as the BCCI offers a comment. BCCI secretary Jay Shah was out of the country and unavailable for comment.
The “leak” that talks about Byju’s pending amount coincides with another “leak” that Indian mobile payments and financial services company Paytm wants to exit its deal with the BCCI as title rights sponsor and transfer the same to Mastercard.
For the record, Mastercard has been trying to sign up with the BCCI and IPL as an official sponsor for some time now. It can be confirmed that two other official partners of the BCCI and IPL are also considering an exit but no formal conversation has taken place on that front yet.
“Transferring of rights is not a big deal. In 2019, Oppo wanted to exit and therefore the jersey rights were transferred to Byju’s. In 2015, Pepsi did the same with IPL when they wanted to exit the cricket sponsorship space. But the mischief here is to put the Paytm deal and Byju’s deal in the same sentence and leak it selectively to the media. The members of the BCCI should be urged to investigate this leak because it doesn’t just harm the interests of its partners but it harms the cricket board’s own interests too,” add those tracking these developments.
Exactly three years ago, in September 2019, Byju’s had replaced Oppo on the Team India jersey and that contract is now awaiting a renewal. Both BCCI and Byju’s have been in discussion to extend the contract and only a “formal signing of the agreement” is awaited.
Reacting to media reports that Byju’s owes BCCI money to the tune of Rs 86.21 crore, industry sources told TOI: “The money pending is for the number of matches after the contract expired and while the new contract is ready, it hasn’t been signed yet. So, the pending amount can only be released once the contract is signed”.
Top sources in the BCCI too agreed that Byju’s has cleared all its past payments to the cricket board, as per the existing contract, and also admitted that the cricket board is in possession of a Bank Guarantee from Byju’s that is far exceeding the “pending amount” as quoted in the media.
“If it is true that Byju’s amount is pending, then all BCCI has to do is encash the Bank Guarantee. Why is it not doing that? Obviously because the previous contract is over and the new contract – while it has been agreed upon – hasn’t been signed yet. No matter how eager both parties are to renew the contract, how can payments be made without it being signed first?” say those in the know.
BCCI officials have been lamenting the past 12 hours about how wrong and selective news leaks are harming their own interests in recent times. The amount leaked to the media — Rs 86.21 crore — is so specific that someone in direct knowledge of it leaked it hours after the BCCI’s apex council meeting got over and those in the know say the information is wrong because there’s no contract in place yet.
“At a time when the BCCI wants the Supreme Court to look at it as a body that functions as per the constitution and is clear of any wrongdoing, such news reports don’t help. The BCCI needs to come out and clear the air here because these kinds of news reports don’t just harm their own ecosystem but harm the reputation of its own partners,” say those tracking developments.
TOI sent BCCI’s media team an email with a request for president Sourav Ganguly to reply to two questions that are as follows: a) Has the BCCI renewed its existing contract with Byjyu’s? And has the renewed contract been signed by both parties? b) Is the BCCI in possession of a Bank Guarantee from Byju’s that far supersedes the “pending amount” as quoted by the media on Thursday and Friday.
There’s been no response to the email yet and the story will be updated as soon as the BCCI offers a comment. BCCI secretary Jay Shah was out of the country and unavailable for comment.
The “leak” that talks about Byju’s pending amount coincides with another “leak” that Indian mobile payments and financial services company Paytm wants to exit its deal with the BCCI as title rights sponsor and transfer the same to Mastercard.
For the record, Mastercard has been trying to sign up with the BCCI and IPL as an official sponsor for some time now. It can be confirmed that two other official partners of the BCCI and IPL are also considering an exit but no formal conversation has taken place on that front yet.
“Transferring of rights is not a big deal. In 2019, Oppo wanted to exit and therefore the jersey rights were transferred to Byju’s. In 2015, Pepsi did the same with IPL when they wanted to exit the cricket sponsorship space. But the mischief here is to put the Paytm deal and Byju’s deal in the same sentence and leak it selectively to the media. The members of the BCCI should be urged to investigate this leak because it doesn’t just harm the interests of its partners but it harms the cricket board’s own interests too,” add those tracking these developments.
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