Chinese Sponsor Effect: Fans Want To Boycott IPL 2020

Ever since IPL’s governing body decided to retain its existing sponsors including Chinese sponsors for the IPL 2020, the news spread like wildfire. Scores of IPL fans took to social media to express their strong dissent against retaining Chinese sponsor for the event.

Fans have trended “BoycottIPL” online. Some event went on to write, “Shame on you” for retaining Chinese sponsors for IPL. This is after Corona Virus pandemic outbreak broke from China and the ongoing border issues with India-China across the Line of Actual Control.

There has been a severe outrage against China and its companies among Indians. However, unfazed by these, IPL governing body decided to go ahead as it felt it couldn’t find sponsors who pay on par with the existing Chinese sponsors in these critical times.

VIVO is a Chinese technology company which develops smartphones and its accessories. VIVO has been the Title Sponsor for the IPL and it pays a staggering Rs 440 crore to IPL for the Title Sponsor. The IPL governing body decided to retain all the sponsors including VIVO as the board felt it could be very tough to find an alternative sponsor who pays on par with the existing sponsors.

This comes in the backdrop of the Government of India banning 59 Chinese mobile applications, including TikTok, WeChat, Helo and et al to counter the “threat posed by Chinese mobile applications to India’s sovereignty and security”. It is also reported that another 275 apps are also put under scrutiny allegedly for potential user privacy violations and national security threats.

While IPL 2020 (13th edition of IPL, is all set to begin in Sep in Dubai and scheduled its finals on Nov 10, this brewing controversy is rumoured to be worrying IPL’s governing body.

With this, there is a growing chorus among several cricket fans and nationalists calling for the viewership ban of IPL 2020.