VIVO pulls out as title sponsors of IPL 2020 

Chinese smartphone company VIVO has pulled out as the title sponsors of IPL 2020, dealing a considerable blow to BCCI during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two days ago, the IPL Governing Council had confirmed that they had retained VIVO as their title sponsors for the upcoming season in the UAE.

However, VIVO has decided to keep the sponsorship deal on hold for 2020 and are expected to resume as the sponsor in 2021. As per NDTV, the Chinese smartphone manufacturing giant pulled out of this season because of the social media backlash.

NEWS: #VIVOIPL 2020 to commence on 19th September, final to be played on 10th November. More details 👉 https://t.co/vpM45FAnUQ pic.twitter.com/KnE48kDW1i

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) August 2, 2020

Due to some political tension between India and China, many fans trended the #ChinesePremierLeague to protest against IPL GC's decision to retain VIVO as the cash-rich league's title sponsor for this season.

VIVO's massive IPL deal with BCCI on hold for now

BREAKING NEWS: VIVO won’t be the IPL sponsor this year. They will be back in 2021 and continue till 2023. The IPL will have a new sponsor this edition IPL

— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) August 4, 2020

Pepsi was the title sponsor of IPL until 2015 before the multinational company abruptly pulled out its contract. VIVO replaced Pepsi as the sponsors in 2016, and two years later, they signed a five-year contract with the BCCI, worth 2199 Crores.

BCCI had issued an official statement after the political tensions between India and China, saying that it would review its deal with the sponsors. However, on Sunday, the board announced that it would retain all its sponsors for IPL 2020.

With reports suggesting that VIVO will be back as the title sponsor next year and continue till 2023, BCCI now faces a daunting task to find a new sponsor for the 2020 season that is schedule to commence in the UAE next month.

The IPL GC announced that the tournament would begin from 19th September, meaning that the top officials have just a little more than a month to get a new deal. As the COVID-19 pandemic has had a nasty impact on several businesses' financial conditions, it will be intriguing to see if the BCCI can find a sponsor for IPL 2020 in these testing times.