BCCI to invite fresh tender for apparel contract

The  Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will soon invite fresh tender for national team's apparel sponsorship deal with rights holder Nike deciding against renewing their contract, which will expire in September.

The BCCI Apex Council met, on Friday, to decide on a number of issues including apparel sponsorship, which is a significant if not huge income for BCCI.

"The Nike's was a four-year deal for 370 crore with a royalty of 30 crore. Now they will not be submitting any fresh proposal for the new period which starts October 1. The Apex Council has decided that RFP (Request For Proposal) will be floated. Nike obviously can submit a fresh bid," a senior BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

It was also learnt that BCCI is likely to extend the contract of 'Pulse Innovations' for the Digital Services contract for BCCI and IPL digital platforms. The company maintains BCCI and IPL websites.

There was a discussion on shifting of National Cricket Academy (NCA) to a new place in Bengaluru.

"Once situation stabilises, the new construction plan will be submitted to the state government's relevant department and then the work will start," the official said.

One of the major issues was the domestic calendar and there wasn't any concrete discussion.

"There is no point in chalking up a calendar without knowing what will be the COVID situation in December-January, 2021. Obviously, you can take it for granted that Duleep Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy will be scrapped from the men's itinerary," he said.

BCCI is concerned that first-class players could lose up to Rs 8 to 10 lakh due to curtailed domestic season.

Ahmedabad is only option for camp:

Contrary to reports that there could be multiple options for India's training camp, the official said that only Ahmedabad is being considered for the time being at the newly built GCA facility in Motera (India's biggest cricket stadium).

"Motera Stadium is a state of the art stadium that has 60 residential rooms inside the facility which will be very convenient to create bio-bubble for players and support staff. Let me tell you, Dubai was not even discussed as training venue for India team during . Dharamsala is the second option," he said.

With all roads of IPL caravan leading towards United Arab Emirates, a couple of franchises informally spoke to PTI and felt that it would be more prudent if India have their red ball camp after the IPL.

"Having an India camp and then coming into the IPL camp doesn't seem quite logical. In fact, if India is going to Australia in late November-early December, they can have the camp post IPL," he said.