As reports of the cola giant Pepsi pulling out of their sponsorship
of the Indian Premier League with two years still left on their contract
began to gather steam, Rajeev Shukla, the chairman of the T20 league,
praised Pepsi as being a 'very good partner' and stated that the matter
will be brought up in the next BCCI meeting on October 18. BCCI has
released an official statement, saying, "BCCI has assured that steps
will be taken to address the concerns and will work necessary solutions
in the interests of the league as well as Pepsico."
When
contacted, PepsiCo mirrored BCCI's sentiments on
the issue and told
cricbuzz that they would share their concerns after a discussion with
the Indian cricket board.
"We are in talks with other
sponsors as well, so the title deal with Pepsi is not that big an issue.
They have certain points and we are going to settle them amicably in
the next meeting. They have been a very good partner all this while and
we do not want to disturb our relationship with them. Whatever is going
to happen is going to happen in a very smooth manner," Shukla was quoted
as saying.
Earlier, an Indian Express report stated
that PepsiCo have conveyed their intention of pulling out of sponsorship
to IPL CEO Sundar Raman, stating IPL spot-fixing as the key contention
for their decision. PepsiCo had paid Rs 396 crore (US $71.77 million) to
bag title sponsorship for the league, for the period of 2013 to 2017.
The IPL has dealt with sponsorship issues before as well, with DLF Ltd,
India's largest real estate firm, not renewing their contract after 2012
with a view to promote other sports.
The report also
stated that PepsiCo had sent a notice to BCCI citing their intention to
pull out of the sponsorhip deal because the IPL spot-fixing scandal had
brought the game to disrepute.
Although the issue was played down
by Rajiv Shukla, if PepsiCo do pull out of the sponsorship then it will
be one of the most significant impact of the spot-fixing scandal that
rocked BCCI a few months ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment