Yes, you heard that right, MPL Sports Apparel and Accessories replace Nike as the principal sponsors of the new kit of the Indian cricket team. This ends a decade and a half long partnership of Nike and the Indian cricket Board which had forged a bond since 2006.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday, signed a fresh contract with MPL for a three-year deal worth a whopping Rs 120 crores.
India’s cricketing body, BCCI will be drawing a revenue share of 10 percent from every jersey or merchandise sold by MPL. This makes for an exciting association between the parent cricketing body and the happening start-up.
If sources are to believed then this was more or less an agreed deal that didn’t involve any tender nor bids. It has been learned that startup sports major Dream11 Sports, along with Puma and Proline were the parties who seemed to be interested in taking up the opportunity but MPL eventually outdid others in the race.
A source close to the deal was quoted saying, “MPL is focused on bringing the best gaming experience to its fans online through our app and we are extending that to the offline space through our exclusive range of merchandise including apparel and accessories,”
Brand MPL is currently endorsed by Indian Men’s Team Cricket Captain, Virat Kohli. While the online gaming company also acts as associate sponsors for quite a few teams in the league.
The emergence of startups in Indian Cricket
Indian cricket is a gift that keeps giving. Be it for players, associations, franchisees, advertisers, broadcasters, and the board. It is the most lucrative brand across platforms.
It is quite interesting to see the rise of startups in the context of Indian cricket. The game of sponsorship earlier used to be dominated by real estate giants (DLF) or FMCG majors like (PepsiCo) are now facing major competition from homegrown start-ups.
A classic case in point being the rise of Dream11, which came to the rescue of BCCI for sponsoring this year’s IPL after original title sponsors Vivo had to withdraw amidst severe backlash, thanks to it being a Chinese company.
Not just sports-based start-ups, but even Edtech companies like Byju’s and Unacademy have become major players in the game. But none would have expected MPL’s arrival in the business of sports merchandise.
If key sources are to be believed then information stemming out is the fact that BCCI’s Nike deal was worth approximately 370 crores for four years with a royalty of around 30 crores. This deal ended in September.
Experts believe Nike, wanted a discounted rate to renew the deal due to the market not being conducive for business thanks to COVID, but this did not sit well with BCCI and hence fresh tenders were floated.
MPL can what Nike can’t!
Even though MPL deal much like what Dream 11 offered to sponsor IPL this year is well short of what Nike offered, the fact of the matter is that there were no major takers for this venture. This suggests that the sports merchandising business in India is still in its native stages and not very rewarding in terms of profits.
A professional source close to MPL was believed saying, “Our vision through MPL Sports Cricket Gear is to become a formidable cricketing gear product and a brand which captures the minds of young cricketing fans and grows with them along with their journey from being a cricketing fan to a product used to a person who advocates our brand of gear,”
The going has been great so far for MPL, which is currently associated with two IPL franchises (KKR and RCB), a CPL franchise (TKR), and the cricket boards of Ireland and the UAE.
Let’s see what the future holds for the company.
