ICC opens World Cup sponsorship bids

The ICC has opened bids for sponsorship for the next World Cup and other cricketing tournaments in the next 8 years. Both the Ambani brothers could be  bidding for this billion dollar game, reports CNBC-TV18.

Over the last eight years, ICC has managed to generate revenues of about USD 550 million from sponsorships, telecast and media rights.

For the forthcoming tournaments including the 2 World Cups, this figure is expected to atleast double. Like last time, ICC is likely to bat with 4 global partners.

However, the battle for bids might just get tougher. The buzz is that Mukesh Ambani has set aside a whopping billion dollar advertising budget till 2010, and has already put in its bids for the ICC sponsorship rights.

Sources say the group could spend about USD 500-600 million to bag the sponsorship rights for ICC's cricket events over the next 8 years. This isn’t a first for RIL, It had sponsored the World Cup in 1987. CNBC-TV18 also learns that the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group could also be in the fray for sponsorship rights.