Sourav Ganguly comments on the suspension of IPL sponsorship deal with Vivo
Image : Collected
|| Desk Report ||
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has finally opened up on the suspension of the IPL title sponsorship deal with Chinese company Vivo where he referred to it as just a “blip”.
The BCCI and Vivo on Thursday decided to part ways for the 2020 IPL edition which is beginning on September 19 in the UAE amid the India-China matter and boycotting Chinese products as well.
Vivo had won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for the amount of Rs 2190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.
“I wouldn’t call it as a financial crisis. It’s just a little bit of a blip,” Ganguly said during a webinar on Saturday which was organised by educational book publishers S Chand Group.
“BCCI, it’s a very a strong foundation - the game, the players, the administrators in the past have made this game so strong that BCCI is able to handle all these blips,” Ganguly said. “You keep your other options open. It is like Plan A and Plan B. Sensible people do it. Sensible brands do it. Sensible corporates do it.”
He further added, “And the only way you can do it is by being professionally strong over a period of time. Big things don’t come overnight. And big things don’t go away overnight. Your preparation for a long period of time gets (you) ready for losses, gets you ready for successes.”
He concluded, “India was designated (to host) the 2021 and 2023 World Cups so there is not a big change in that. Yes, the COVID situation had kept everybody alarmed, but that’s the way it is.”
