Star Sports have withdrawn from the sponsorship deal worth Rs 1.5 crore with the Mumbai Cricket Association in the wake of adverse reports in the media, MCA honorary vice-president Ravi Savant announced on Tuesday.
Media reports in a daily newspaper quoted managing committee members pointing out issues, including under-valuation of the deal, an absence of clarity and the perceived hurry to push it through.
Mr. Savant revealed that MCA approached Star, among other parties, with a Rs 5 crore proposal for sponsorship of MCA tournaments. “Star offer was for Rs 1.5 crore. Our tournament expenses come to Rs 1.38 crore, so this was the offer closest to that figure.” He added: “Star is a reputed company and deals with the BCCI.”
Asked if any valuation was done by MCA before considering the Rs 1.5 crore sponsorship offer from Star, he clarified: “No valuation has been done so far. I do not know if it is right to call MCA as a ‘property.’ In the light of this, Rs 1.5 crore would have been a benchmark figure. We were looking at the offer, now it is off.”
Savant, one of the BCCI vice-presidents, elaborating on the Star offer, said the television channel asked for rights to record all tournaments organised by MCA. “We own three grounds (Wankhede stadium, Bandra -Kurla Complex and Kandivili complex) and pay rent for conducting matches on other venues. Star were told that we had no control over venues not owned by us.”
He informed that the association had asked its marketing committee to seek out sponsors and were expecting inquiries from any company producing a consumer product. “We could have given multiple exposure to a consumer firm due to numerous tournaments we conduct, besides space for logo on media releases etc. Star was the first to respond. Members objections were reported by media without understanding the situation. Now we have no sponsor in hand,” Mr. Savant said.
The managing committee members questioned the logic in including reputed inter-school events like Harris Shield and Giles Shield, conducted by Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) who signed a five-year deal in 2012 with the Reliance-owned Mumbai Indians franchise, in the offer with Star. Savant said: “We help out school sports events with finance, so the issue could have been discussed with MSSA. I do not feel they would have objected.”
MCA conducts tournaments for juniors, inter-club and inter-company events. The Sportstar Trophy U-19 Selection Trial Tournament is one of them.
