The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has four central sponsorship positions left to sell for the Indian Premier League (IPL) after the signing of Wonder Cement.
The Rajasthan-based company has taken up the designation of Official Umpire Partner as it becomes the sixth brand present in the IPL’s central sponsorship portfolio, joining title sponsor Tata, Associate Partners My11Circle, AngelOne and RuPay, as well as Official Strategic Timeout Partner Ceat.
With the IPL portfolio structure allowing for 10 central sponsors, this leaves room for four more additions, with the BCCI having begun a new sponsorship cycle at the start of the ongoing 2024 edition of the tournament. This is set to run for five years, until the end of the 2028 season.
Among the remaining available positions is one of the IPL’s prime sponsorship assets as ‘Official Orange Cap Partner and Official Purple Cap Partner’, a designation covering the caps which are awarded to the leading run scorer and wicket taker in the competition respectively. The caps are worn by the players at the top of the respective leader boards throughout the tournament and garner much attention on social media channels, not to mention regular broadcast integrations.
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While the Wonder Cement deal has been announced as the 2024 IPL reaches its conclusion, it is not unusual for the IPL to kick off a new sponsorship cycle with some gaps in its portfolio and brands have long entered or exited central sponsorship deals mid-cycle. For example, Herbalife replaced grocery delivery platform Swiggy Instamart in 2023, while Visit Saudi took over from Unacademy in 2022.
As part of Wonder Cement’s deal, the company’s logo will be visible on umpire uniforms, in-stadium perimeter LED advertising and the sight screen across all IPL matches, beginning with the play-off match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders taking place today, May 21.
The 2024 IPL concludes with its final on Sunday May 28.