Star India has come on board as the official sponsor for the Indian Premier League. This is even as its rival, Multi Screen Media, that owns SET Max, is the official broadcaster for IPL.
While PepsiCo is the title sponsor of the T20 league, YES Bank and Vodafone are official partners. The sixth season of IPL will begin from April 3 with the first match going to be held at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, between Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Star India said this deal will help drive the growth of its flagship channel Star Plus. In a statement, Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India, said, “We saw a great opportunity to use this platform to communicate our brand promise of
Stating that the power of Star's platform is unique , he said that the company is keen to leverage this to support BCCI’s efforts to increase the reach and popularity of IPL. Last year, Star India bagged the Indian cricket broadcast rights from BCCI till 2018.
Meanwhile, IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla said that he expects Pepsi IPL 2013 to set new benchmarks in terms of quality and popularity of cricket compared to previous seasons.
Nine teams will play each other twice – at home and away, in a total of 72 league matches. The top four teams, in terms of points, at the end of the league stage on May 19 will qualify for the Playoffs. The final will be played on May 26 , at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.