Pepsi just pulled its sponsorship from the world's biggest cricket league after yet another match-fixing scandal
According to the Financial Times, PepsiCo signed a five-year contract to sponsor the world's biggest cricket league in 2012, but the company decided to end its sponsorship two years before the end of the contract. The deal was originally worth $71 million (£46 million).
The IPL has been badly hit by corruption scandals in the six years since it launched, including, as the FT notes, a huge scandal in 2013. Lots of players and officials, including Sreesanth, one of India's most famous stars, were arrested for fixing matches.
This summer, two of the eight teams in the tournament, the Chennai Superkings and the Rajasthan Royals, also got suspended from the tournament for two years, after another scandal about fixing games.
PepsiCo didn't give any formal reason for why it stopped sponsoring the IPL, but at the start of the month, the Indian Express reported that the company had been in touch with the BCCI, Indian cricket's governing body. Pepsi was worried the game was in "disrepute" according to the report.
Despite being pretty unknown in most of the world, cricket is by far India's most popular sport, and the IPL is now its biggest and most-watched tournament. It is loosely based on American sporting tournaments like the NBA, with big franchises and a playoff system.
Many teams get financial backing from Indian celebrities, and superstar players from all over the world flock to India in April and May to play. Much of the IPL's appeal comes from its glamour, and the short "Twenty20" format it uses. Twenty20s last about three hours, a lot less time than traditional cricket matches (which can run to up to five days at the international level) making them far more accessible and easy to watch for fans.
From next season, the IPL will be sponsored by Vivo Electronics, a Chinese phonemaker.
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- Foreign tourist arrivals in India will cross pre-pandemic level in 2024
- Upcoming smartphones launching in India in May 2024
- Markets rebound in early trade amid global rally, buying in ICICI Bank and Reliance
- Women in Leadership
- Rupee declines 5 paise to 83.43 against US dollar in early trade
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market