Let’s see, what the relocation of IPL brought for the franchises—reduced concern for security, and increased costs on the logistics, renewed headache of reworking the budget and new sets of hassles of wooing the sponsors once again with the lure of revised incentives. The brands that invested millions as a price of wide ranging visibility during the one and half month league, are all set to either cut back on their budget or dropping out altogether from the deal as IPL prepares to travel to another continent, where most of the sponsors have very little or no brand values.For all the sponsors belonging to the industries as varied as soft drink to heavy electricals – shift in the IPL venue means one thing in common and that is the missed opportunities on connecting to the targeted audience. The net result: Huge numbers of the Indian Premier League sponsors are going on an evaluation spree and the majority of them are likely to drop the franchises for good. A number of them are also in the mood of tweaking the terms. The sad specter of global recession had already hit them hard and now the export of IPL came as the final nail on the coffin and you can not blame the companies such as Religare, Bajaj Allianz and HDIL that decided to back out from the contract.While Bajaj Allianz has terminated its sponsorship deal with the defending Champions Rajasthan Royals, HDIL pulled out from the title sponsorship of Kolkata Knight Riders and Religare ceases to continue with their association with Delhi Daredevils. There are other big names such as cola major Coca-Cola and mobile service provider Virgin Mobile, who have stopped short of signing any new deal with the IPL in its second phase.

Coca-Cola, and Deccan Chargers were having talks for signing a sponsorship deal, but the Cola major was reported to drop the plan. In another move, Virgin Mobile has decided to pull back on a proposed licensing deal with Delhi Daredevils as official mobile partner. As goes the industry news, majority of the existing sponsors are now demanding a reworking on the contract. While some demands compensation, others seek extra advantages for the same price. The corporate houses that made multi-year deal with Indian Premier League, finds the time most opportune for coaxing out better deals for the season three in advance.

However, things are not that bleak for the Mumbai Indians. “Several new marquee brands are supporting Mumbai Indians this season, even under a changed economic environment. It is a huge vote of confidence in the potential of our team,” Mumbai Indians team owner Nita M Ambani said. The Mumbai franchise has just sealed deals with Pernod Richard as official partner for spirits and wines.

The other companies that are sponsoring the Reliance owned team are Wrigley, PepsiCo, MasterCard, Kingfisher and Adidas. The team hopes to sign further sponsorship deals with some of the insurance, pharmaceuticals, electronics and travel majors. And there are sponsors too who have decided to stick to their deals despite recession and change in venue. Puma and Hero Honda are major among these rare creeds. “We will shift on ground promotional activities to South Africa, though our in-store promotions will continue in India,” said Puma India’s CEO Rajiv Mehta. Meanwhile television advertisers are busy reworking their on-air deals with Indian Premier League as they fear the changed match schedule for the upcoming cricket tournament is going to affect the viewer ship.
Source – cricket360.com