With less than a month to go before the start of the 2024 T20 World Cup, MRF has snapped its ties with the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The tyre manufacturers had a long-standing relationship with the global cricketing body but have decided not to extend the partnership further.
MRF’s move comes as other premium sponsors of the ICC are also seriously contemplating their association. CricketNext tried reaching the company for an official comment on the development, and the story will be updated when they respond.
With the exception of DP World and Aramco, which haven’t yet expressed any concerns about their ongoing partnerships with the ICC, most other sponsors are either figuring out their returns on the investment or working on an exit strategy.
Industry experts cite the ICC’s lack of a robust marketing and sponsorship team, poor event scheduling, and lack of communication with stakeholders as the prime reasons for these developments.
“There are multiple factors contributing to this. And the lack of a robust team to keep the sponsors interested is one of the key issues,” says those aware of developments. “There have been cases of potential sponsors showing interest, but somehow, thanks to their (the governing body) approach, talks have never really peaked”.
The timing of the sponsors evaluating their priorities is also understandable because the upcoming T20 World Cup is being played in a time zone that is not suitable for their interests. Apart from the existing concerns, the ICC’s very dull build-up, as reported by CricketNext this week, hasn’t helped either.
“Every sponsor is critically evaluating the return for their dollar spent. There is no buzz being felt, and no plan seems to be in place for marquee events. And then there is the timezone factor, a major,” adds an industry expert.
The recent sale of the India market’s Media Rights alone contributed 90% to the ICC’s global telecast revenues, and the key market itself is being ignored for reasons that neither make cricketing sense nor economic sense nor help grassroots growth.
“The ICC’s primary position has to be towards the development of the game, not getting temporary stadiums involved to host random matches and eye gate revenues. Are they supposed to be the gatekeepers of the game or event organisers? Right now, they’re clearly working like the latter,” say industry sources.
A financial services company that had shown immense interest in partnering with the ICC is now shying away from furthering relations. The reasons discussed internally revolve around the lack of enough traction.
At the time of writing this report, even a leading beverage company is seriously evaluating its relationship with the ICC, too, asking for a better understanding of how their spending is gathering value, and the cricket body needs to sort the situation before more sponsors begin to show their backs to them.
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