Abhinav Kumar Singh 
On August 4, BCCI invited bids for the team India kit sponsor and looks like the German sports apparel and footwear major Puma could be the frontrunner in bagging the deal.
Puma has bought the ITT (Invitation to Tender) document worth Rs 1 lakh as confirmed by a senior BCCI official.
“I can confirm you that Puma has bought the ITT (Invitation to Tender) document worth Rs 1 lakh. While buying bid documents doesn’t mean one is bidding, Puma has shown genuine interest in submitting a bid,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Another German giant in sports apparel and footwear, Adidas have also shown interest but it is unclear that it will be bidding for the sponsorship rights but though, bid for the merchandise products, which will be a separate tender.
Selling of exclusive merchandise products depends on how many exclusive stores a company has along with the point of sales (shops that sells your company’s products).
While Puma has over 350 exclusive stores, Adidas has more than 450 outlets which make these two companies the most sought after.
The bid has been invited after Nike refused the BCCI offer of the scaled-down bid. Nike was the team kit sponsor from 2016 to 2020 for which they paid Rs 370 crore and Rs 30 crore as royalty. Though it is unclear whether Nike will re-bid for the deal.
The BCCI in its new bid has kept a base price of Rs 61 lakh per match compared to the Rs 88 lakh during the last cycle.
