 "BCCI-Apollo sponsorship: Where does it rank among most expensive jersey sponsors in cricket and across sport?")
Apollo Tyres was unveiled as the Indian cricket team’s new jersey sponsor after signing a deal worth Rs 579 crore with the BCCI which is set to last till March 2026. This follows Dream11’s exit last month following the introduction of the Online Gaming Bill.
Less than a month after the BCCI and fantasy sports platform Dream11 parted ways as a consequence of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, the Indian cricket team got a new lead sponsor on Tuesday in leading tyre brand Apollo.
While the Indian board did not mention the financial details of the deal that will run till March 2028, the Gurugram-based organisation reportedly shelled out a whopping Rs 579 crore to beat Canva and JK Cement, who had placed bids of Rs 544 crore and Rs 477 crore respectively in the three-way bidding process.
Apollo, thus, will be shelling out a staggering Rs 4.77 crore per match in their two-and-a-half-year deal, in which the Men in Blue play 121 bilateral matches and 21 ICC games as of the current ICC Future Tours Programme.
Where does the BCCI-Apollo deal rank in cricket?
Apollo’s bid beats the Rs 358 crore that Dream11 had shelled out to secure the India sponsorship rights in March 2023 in a three-year deal in which they were to pay Rs 3 crore per bilateral match and Rs 1 crore for ICC and ACC events.
Apollo’s bid, however, is by no means the highest ever in cricket, or even in Indian cricket for that matter. Oppo, after all, had paid a jaw-dropping Rs 1,079 crore for a five-year deal in April 2017, beating a Rs 768 crore bid from fellow Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo that year.
The bid value per match, though, remained roughly the same, with Oppo paying Rs 4.61 crore per bilateral match and Rs 1.51 crore per ICC match.
Their partnership with the BCCI, however, was a short-lived one, with Edtech giant Byjus – which currently finds itself mired in crisis – taking over for the remainder of the deal from 2019 and later extending their sponsorship by a year in 2022, reportedly paying the board close to Rs 1,000 crore during the four-year period.
BCCI’s deals, however, pale when compared to some of the lead sponsorship deals in other sports, especially football. Here are the top five:
| Rank | Team/Organisation | Sport | Sponsor | Amount | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | Football | Emirates | USD 900m | 2006-2028 |
| 2 | Manchester United | Football | Chevrolet | USD 559m | 2014-2021 |
| 3 | Barcelona | Football | Spotify | USD 306m | 2022-2026 |
| 4 | UCLA | College Athletics | Under Armour | USD 280m | 2016-2032 |
| 5 | Real Madrid | Football | Emirates | €70m per match | 2013-2026 |
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