Sahara group owns Pune Warriors India franchisee in the Indian Premier League © AFP
By CricketCountry Staff
Dhaka: May 31, 2012
A sponsorship offer of approximately $9.4 million has been made to Bangladesh Cricket for a period of four years by Sahara Matribhumi, Bangladesh subsidiary of Sahara group.
The bid offered by Sahara Matribhumi is substantially higher than the bids offered to Bangladesh by its previous sponsors. Grameenphone had offered $4 million while Robi had offered $4 million.
Bangladesh Cricket Board President Mustafa Kamal said that no decision has been taken as yet.
"The national team sponsorship, which is the main component of the tenders that we had invited, has been offered 2.3 million dollars per year by Sahara," Kamal said.
"We expect the revenue to be around Tk 110 crore during this four-year period. It was unimaginable a few years ago but more than the money, I think it will be a turning point if we can have Sahara with us,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
"All the tenders are for a four-year period. I hope that we can finalise the deals in the next few days. We haven't made a decision on the tenders; I'm just letting you know what is the highest we've got," he added.
Last week Subroto Roy had said that his company was keen in investing in Bangladesh Cricket.
"The Sahara logo is seen on the jerseys of Indian cricket team," he said then. "Though I am not announcing it right now, but I can say it may be possible to see the same logo on the jersey of Bangladesh cricket team."
Apart from the national team sponsorship, Sahara was the only company to bid for the sponsorship rights of the National Cricket Academy at a price of $130,000 per year.
