Robi ends deal with BCB
Telecommunications company Robi Axiata Ltd prematurely terminated their sponsorship deal with the Bangladesh cricket team yesterday, citing a 'loss of relevance' in their agreement with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
In a statement, Robi did not offer details of exactly what terms were at issue but said that the contract has been terminated with immediate effect. BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury, however, told The Daily Star yesterday that the reason could be because of conflicting interests as some of the players are personally represented by other telecommunication companies.
Robi became title sponsors of the national team in 2015. Their contract was renewed in 2017 to stretched till the end of the 2019 World Cup in June-July in England.
While saying that it was a great honour to be associated with the Bangladesh team, Robi's statement added "because of a loss in the relevance of our current sponsorship agreement with the BCB, Robi decided, with sincere regret, to discontinue the sponsorship of the national cricket team with immediate effect."
“When they started as sponsors, their demand was that players could not have conflicting interests," Nizamuddin said over phone. "But some players had personal contracts that pre-dated Robi's relationship with the BCB. Over the last six-seven months we have held meetings with Robi, giving them a discount and also assuring them that the conflicting contracts will be ended. I think they are using this as an excuse to get out."
In line with a recent BCB directive to players to wrap up their personal contracts with competeing telecommunication companies, Tamim Iqbal has terminated his deal with Grameenphone, as has Shakib Al Hasan with Banglalink. Mashrafe Mortaza's deal with Grameenphone is also headed the same way. Nizamuddin said all the conflicts would have ended anyway with the expiration of their respective contracts.
This development comes after Robi posted Tk 44.4 crore in net losses in the second quarter of the year.
