While all these rumours of Sony’s sponsorship of the IPL are doing the rounds, they have been pooh-poohed by both camps; i.e. Sony as well as Indian Premier League. Rohit Gupta, president, SET, has said, “The show will go on as last year.” Corroborating his position is Lalit Modi, IPL commissioner, who said, “There’s nothing to it; Sony stays.”

While the rumours fly thick and fast in international cricket, there are figures so suggest Sony operated at a substantial loss for the IPL last year. While their investment was in the region of 250 crore, their returns were only about 220 crores. Last year’s advertisement rates were astronomical (Rs 3 lacs for a 10 second spot), but it is unlikely that this year, with the financial downturn such prices can be expected.

As franchise owners such as Shahrukh Khan have gone on record to say, additional sponsorships for the individual teams and Indian Premier League franchises will be dicey this year, which may make things really tight. So if one has to reckon without the central sponsorships from DLF and Sony, which are to the tune of 40 crores as estimated by cricket news sources, there may be indeed be problems.  

And what of the principal sponsor DLF, which is also the title sponsor of the DLF IPL? The original deal was a 5 year contract under which Indian Premier League was to be paid 40 crores a year by DLF for the title sponsorship or the name DLF-IPL. However now the rumours mill is saying that even those 40 crores per year has been reduced by 50% to only 20 crores a year by IPL who is finding it extremely difficult to snag sponsors. Rumour also has it that Indian Premier League offered the discount when DLF were considering exiting the IPL.  This also has been denied by DLF when approached.

So the real picture on the sponsorships is not yet clear, with the rumour mill working over time and CEOs in denial mode!

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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