As reported by The Indian Express on Friday, PepsiCo had made a decision to cut its ties with the IPL as a result of the spot-fixing crisis that had brought the game into “disrepute” thereby further dampening the reputation of the cash-rich league.
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PepsiCo and BCCI released a joint statement which read, “BCCI and PepsiCo have had a longstanding cordial relationship and have been in discussions to work out a solution which addresses PepsiCo’s concerns”.
Shukla tried to downplay the issue by stating the BCCI has already started the hunt for PepsiCo’s replacement.
IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla confirmed that the BCCI will not enter into any legal dispute with PepsiCo, which had signed a deal worth Rs 396 crore in 2012.
In a statement to The Times Of India a source said, “They have shown a willingness to move out of the deal from this season due to their own interests and not because of disrepute and stuff”. We hope the current problems of IPL are short-term and they are addressed. “We are addressing their concerns and they are addressing our concerns. But if they are not, we will have to go back and rethink”. “Whatever is going to happen is going to happen in a very smooth manner”, he added.
The sponsorship is worth 3.96 billion rupees and was entered in back in 2013 for a five-year term, which ends in 2017.
The company is referring to the ever-mushrooming scandals that maligned IPL’s image – right from spot-fixing to court cases to under the table transactions. Other sponsors are most unlikely to quit because their investments are not as huge as the title sponsors.
The panel also recommended that Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra be banned for life from the sport after both were found guilty of betting on matches and passing on information to bookmakers.
A settlement with Pepsi is likely to be rubber stamped in the BCCI working committee meeting in Mumbai on October 18.
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Shashank Manohar, who was elected last Sunday unanimously as the new president at the Board SGM after the sudden demise of incumbent Jagmohan Dalmiya on September 20, is expected to tell the members in detail about the slew of reforms he had announced at the media conference soon after being anointed as the new chief.
