STAR is Team India title sponsors after Sahara is disqualified

Sahara had initially decided to not renew its contract with the BCCI, the main reason being that it has been locked in bitter legal dispute with the BCCI, primarily concerning the Pune Warriors IPL franchise. Sahara, which owns Warriors, had been asking the BCCI to reduce the annual ownership fee and the matter entered the courts, which asked for it to be resolved through arbitration. Eventually, in October this year, the BCCI terminated the franchise.But, interestingly, as the deadline for the bid approached, Sahara decided to compete for the sponsorship rights; it bought the tender document on the eve of the deadline for submission. It also put in a higher offer than Star: Sahara bid Rs 20.3 million per match for bilateral games and Rs 9.1 million per match for ICC tournaments. However, its bid was rejected on technical grounds.
Reacting to the development, Sahara expressed disappointment at the treatment handed out to it and even questioned BCCI's motive. "This [legal] dispute has been happening from May. So why did they [the BCCI] continue to take money from us under the existing sponsorship rights, which we hold till December 31. They raised the technical issue just because they wanted to disqualify us," Abhijit Sarkar, a Sahara spokesperson, told ESPNcricinfo.According to Sarkar, Sahara officials were asked to sit out as the board's lawyer explained to the marketing committee why the company was not eligible and its various legal wrangles with the BCCI. "If they had an objection, they should have told us when we were picking up the tender," Sarkar said. "Even after us having done that, they could have told us your bid would not be considered since there is a legal dispute going on."

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It wants to own Indian cricket, it appears. The Rupert Murdoch owned 21st Century Fox India offshoot STAR India has bagged the title sponsorship rights to team India. Two bidders were in the final running – Sahara and Star India – the former was disqualified leaving Star with the title sponsorship.

This was announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) through a tweet a short while ago.
A release sent out by the BCCI says that the team sponsorship will be “covering BCCI events, ICC events and ACC events, for the period 1 January 2014 to 31 March 2017.”

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We would be using Star brands, and it could be Star Sports, Star Plus or Life OK, which could find its presence on the Indian jersey once our sponsorship commences. We would like to build our brand in a very effective way using this association.
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When the jersey has a Star Plus logo, viewers will also be informed about Star Plus shows and what the channel stands for.
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The jersey’s look is the call of BCCI. Since we are the title sponsor, the jersey will now have our brand name. We are looking at using multiple brands on the jersey depending on the need. So we could start with Star Plus, and after a year think of putting Life OK’s logo on the jersey.

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