41.41 crores for Tigers
An improved performance on the field led to increased bids for the Tigers' sponsorship rights as the Bangladesh Cricket Board sold the rights for the next two years to media planning company Top of Mind for Tk 41.41 crores.
The bid from Top of Mind beat their closest rivals Grameenphone by Tk41 lakhs. This was the second time that Top of Mind won the sponsorship rights, after sponsoring the team during the recently concluded Pakistan series.
The BCB was pleased with the outcome of the bidding and credited the amplified response to Bangladesh's good performances on the field, which made the world take note.
"The entire credit goes to our national cricketers. Two years ago when Sahara received the rights, the bids from the local companies were nowhere near Sahara. This time we received bids which were much better than Sahara. And to receive such confidence from local companies is a great sign. I am really happy to see this," said BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon.
In 2012, Sahara Matribhumi, the Bangladesh subsidiary of Sahara group, had bid TK 73.1 crores for the sponsorship rights for four years. However, the deal was voided after the World Cup.
According to the BCB president, had the deal continued, the BCB would have received approximately TK 28 crores over the next two years from Sahara and that was the reason why the base price of the bidding yesterday was TK 30 crores.
However as opposed to the deal signed with Sahara, Top of Mind will not get the sponsorship rights of the team for ICC events. They also won't be getting the rights of the Academy team. They will however, retain the sponsorship rights for the Asia Cup.
"We sold the rights for the national team, under-19 team, women's team and A team. We will auction the sponsorship rights for the T20 World Cup and ICC Under-19 World Cup later," Kazi Inam, BCB director.
Inam further stated that the BCB and Sahara had cleared all their financial issues before the contract was terminated.
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