The Indian Premier League will have a new title sponsor: Vivo has decided to exit their existing deal and the Tata Group will come on board for the next two seasons (2022 and 2023).

The decision was approved at the IPL governing council meeting, under the chairmanship of Brijesh Patel, held online on Tuesday afternoon. The council also provided the letter of intent to the Ahmedabad franchise after months of uncertainty ended over their links with betting companies in Europe following a clean chit from a neutral panel.

Sources told The Telegraph that the BCCI is expected to earn around Rs 128 crore more from the deal with the Tata Group. With two new franchises coming in and the total number of matches going up from 60 to 74, the BCCI was expected to earn Rs 996 crore from Vivo over the next two seasons. The Tata Group deal will fetch BCCI around Rs 1,124 crore.

Instead of Rs 440 crore, Vivo had offered to pay Rs 484 crore and Rs 512 crore over the next two seasons. According to the agreement, Tata Group will pay Rs 335 crore per season while Vivo will have to shell out Rs 454 crore for exiting the contract midway.

Vivo bagged the title rights in 2017 for Rs 2,199 crore for five years, promising to pay Rs 440 crore every season. The Chinese smartphone makers had earlier replaced Pepsico after the latter walked out of a Rs 396-crore deal in 2016.

Vivo, however, paused the deal for a year in 2020 following the India-China diplomatic standoff and the rights were transferred to Dream 11. Since the original five-year deal was up to 2022, it got extended till 2023 because of the one-year break.

Vivo is learnt to have been working on an exit route for the last several months and the BCCI helped both parties reach an agreement.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah welcomed the Tata Group on board. “This is indeed a momentous occasion for the BCCI and IPL as the Tata Group is the epitome of global Indian enterprise with an over 100-year-old legacy and operations in more than 100 countries across six continents.

“The BCCI like the Tata Group is keen to promote the spirit of cricket across international borders and the growing popularity of the IPL as a global sporting franchise, bears testimony to the BCCI’s efforts. We are truly happy that India’s largest and most trusted business groups have believed in the IPL growth story and together with the Tata Group, we will look to take Indian cricket and the IPL forward to greater heights,” Shah said.

The governing council also decided to give the Lucknow and Ahmedabad franchises around 10 days to finalise their three players from the unretained pool. The list will then be finalised and the auction held in Bangalore on February 12 and 13.