The IPL Governing Council made it official that fantasy sports giants Dream11 is the title sponsor of IPL 2020, which will be played in UAE due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement released on on Wednesday, the BCCI said that Dream11’s association with sports has grown over the years and it is presently partnering a total of 19 sports leagues along with six IPL franchises.

“Dream11 upgrading their association from an official partner to title sponsor is a great testament to the brand IPL,” the T20 tournament’s chairman Brijesh Patel said.

“Dream11 as a fantasy sports brand will only grow the engagement of the IPL with its fans. As a digital brand it will give them leverage to create exciting online engagement for fans sitting at home and watching the matches.”

The BCCI and Vivo had decided to suspend their partnership for the 2020 edition of IPL beginning on September 19 in the UAE. The development came amid the clamour to boycott Chinese products in the wake of the China-India border stand-off.

The deal with Vivo was worth approximately Rs 440 crore per year.

“The launch of IPL in 2008 gave birth to the idea of Dream11,” said Harsh Jain, CEO and Co-Founder of Dream Sports. “As avid sports fans, we wanted to offer fantasy cricket to IPL fans to help them further engage with the sport they love and showcase their sports knowledge and skill.

“Being a proud homegrown Indian brand that is made in India, by Indians and exclusively for Indian sports fans, we would like to thank the BCCI for giving us an opportunity to become the title sponsor of IPL, which in our opinion is the world’s greatest sports property.”

It is worth noting that Dream11 earned funding from Tencent, Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company. There were questions raised about that but a BCCI official had defended the call, saying the percentage was negligible.

“Dream11 stakeholders, including its founders plus all 400 plus employees, are Indian,” a BCCI source had told PTI. “Their Indian investors are Kalaari Capital and Multiples Equity. Even Dream11’s product is available exclusively for use only by Indians. Only a single-digit percentage minority stake is held by Tencent.”