It is not a good time for the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). After hit in the media rights deal with Sony, now SLC also has to take substantial hit in its Sponsorship rights deal as well.
Dialog Axiata, the incumbent sponsor of the Sri Lankan team will continue to be the sponsor for the national squad for the next three years – but at lower values. According to information with InsideSport, Dialog will be paying almost 30% less than what they paid for the same right in the last sponsorship cycle.
As in the case of SLC’s media rights tender where only Sony Pictures Network (SPN) was the interested party, the board could not generate enough interest for its asset despite of being in market since the month of February 2020.
SLC Sponsorship Rights : Only two bidders were in fray, Dialog wins the sponsorship rights.
According to info with InsideSports only two companies decided to bid for the sponsorship rights of SLC, Dialog Axiata and one of the India based sports marketing company.
Dialog Axiata is the number one telecommunication service provider in Sri Lanka with more than 14 million subscribers.
According to one of the report in Sri Lankan media, Dialog has committed LKR 890 Mn ($4.8m) for the 3 year sponsorship rights deal, vis a vis for the last 3 year cycle Dialog paid LKR 1.2 Bn ($6.5 M)
SLC Media Rights : Board trying to negotiate with SPN but the broadcaster unlikely to increase the offer
As reported by InsideSport earlier, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has entered in a separate and exclusive negotiation with Sony Picture Network (SPN) for the long pending tender for the media rights. According to information available with InsideSport, SPN was the only interested party to submit its bid for the SLC rights. None of the other company including a leading Sports media rights marketing company from India submitted their bid. As reported earlier by InsideSport, Star India, Discovery and others stayed away from the tender which has got postponed multiple times over the last 4 months.
Also Read : Cricket Business : Sony sole bidder for the rights, Sri Lanka cricket ready to accept the ‘low offer’
According to SLC sources, Sony had submitted bid for all media rights (Television – Digital combine) for $22.5 Mn and that stays their final bid amount.
The sources further inform InsideSport that the offer by SPN is way below the expectations of SLC. But owing to the limited interest by the other parties, SLC are not left with any option but to accept the offer.
“Market has not responded to our rights favorably. Coronavirus has taken its toll. The board will try one last time to negotiate with Sony to increase the price and we are confident that they being our long term partner will understand our situation”, said one of the SLC board member following the bid process closely.
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