Pepsi title-sponsor deal brings fizz back to the IPL

The Indian Premier League (IPL) received a shot in the arm when soft drinks company Pepsi won the title sponsorship rights for five years, from the 2013 season onwards, with a winning bid of Rs 396.80 crores.

Real estate company DLF had ended its five-year-long association with the IPL as the title sponsor in August. But the good news for the BCCI is that PepsiCo's bid was almost double of the Rs 200 crore paid by DLF for the 2008-2012 period.

PepsiCo had outbid telecom communications provider Bharti Airtel, which had offered Rs 316 crore.

Farooq Abdullah, the Chairman of the BCCI's Marketing Committee, said: "The value of the winning bid reflects the growth and success of the IPL."

IPL Governing Council Chairman Rajeev Shukla said the amount that PepsiCo would pay only proved that the IPL brand was still strong.

"DLF were paying us Rs 40 crore per year and Pepsi will be giving us on an average Rs 79 crore per year," he said. "So far our records of selling various properties of IPL has been very good. We have doubled, tripled or quadrupled the amount while selling some of the properties," Shukla said.

KINGS XI, bcci SETTLE DISPUTE

It is also learnt that the BCCI and the Kings XI Punjab have settled a dispute over alleged breach of franchisee agreements by asking the owners of the team to pay Rs 1 crore.

Top BCCI officials and representatives of Kings XI Punjab met in Mumbai on Wednesday to find a middleground. The issue involved the breach of contract with regard to the ownership patterns.

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