US multinational food and beverage corporation PepsiCo has today (Thursday) confirmed it will resume its ties with the Board of Control for Cricket in India through a four-year sponsorship deal.
PepsiCo, which pulled out as title sponsor of the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition in October, said it will join the BCCI as an associate sponsor for all home matches played by the Indian national team from 2016 to 2019.
The agreement will make PepsiCo the BCCI’s official partner for refreshment, snacks and drinks, along with granting it branding rights at stadia and on-ground advertising.
“PepsiCo, which has been our long-term partner, are back on the board again as an official associate sponsor,” BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. Thakur added that the Board will sign another two associate sponsors this month.
“PepsiCo is now going to partner BCCI, over the next four years sponsoring and being a ground sponsor for all matches – Test, one-day and T20 – played in India,” PepsiCo India chairman and chief executive D Shivakumar said.
The BCCI in October said Chinese mobile telecommunications firm Vivo Mobile will become the new title sponsor of the IPL. The Indian division of Vivo Mobile will replace PepsiCo after reports over the status of the latter firm’s partnership with the league emerged earlier in the month.
PepsiCo secured the title sponsorship rights to the IPL in November 2012 under a five-year deal covering the 2013 to 2017 seasons worth $72.5m (€64.5m). However, the company was said to be seeking to end its deal early in the wake of the ongoing controversy surrounding the IPL’s 2013 spot-fixing scandal.
Concerning the end of its IPL partnership, Shivakumar said: “We clearly mentioned at that time that we were not parting way with BCCI or cricket. We continue to be involved with IPL with some other franchises and that continues.”