BCCI invites sponsorship bids for four teams

The BCCI issued a tender notice today soliciting sponsors for four Indian teams. The notice, from board secretary N Srinivasan, invites bids for the men's, women's, India A and India Under-19 squads. According to PTI, the bid document is available for a non-refundable fee of Rs. 5 lakh.

The notice requires all bidders to satisfy the eligibility criteria laid down by the board, which has also reserved the right to "cancel or amend the entire bidding process at any stage and to reject any and/or all bids without providing any reasons, including calling for a re-tender."

The board's existing sponsorship deal with the Sahara Group ends on June 30. Sahara originally won the right to sponsor the Indian cricket team for a period of four years beginning in December 2005 for Rs 400 crore. But the BCCI was unable to find a new sponsor last year, failing to attract even a single bid. So Sahara agreed to continue its sponsorship of the team for an additional six months on the same terms.

Since then, however, Sahara successfully bid a whopping Rs 1700 crore for the new Pune IPL franchise, leading their chairman Subroto Roy to say Sahara will review its sponsorship of the Indian cricket team.

"Only thing we will see is our continuation of sponsorship to the Indian cricket team. We will sit on that and we will discuss on that. But on all other sports nothing will be affected," Roy said when asked about the impact of the acquisition of the IPL franchise. At the time, he said Sahara would consider limiting its exposure to the BCCI and women's cricket. Sahara also sponsors the Indian hockey team.