BCCI advisory: The Franchisees may engage in partnerships with entities in the fantasy sports sector
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has briefed the five Women’s Premier League (WPL) franchises that it has no problems with any commercial associations with fantasy sports but not with cryptocurrencies, betting, gambling, real money, and tobacco sectors.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has briefed the five Women’s Premier League (WPL) franchises that it has no problems with any commercial associations with fantasy sports but not with cryptocurrencies, betting, gambling, real money, and tobacco sectors.
In a discussion, it has alerted the teams that associations or branding with the barred brands could prompt correctional measures and trained them to present the duplicates of all commercial agreements 10 days before the beginning of the WPL season. The first season of the WPL will run from March 4 to 26 and the maiden auction of the WPL was held on February 13 (Monday).
“No Franchisee shall undertake a partnership or any kind of association with an entity that is in any way connected/related to an entity that is involved/operates, directly or indirectly, in the betting/gambling/real money gaming/tobacco sector,”
the 68-page advisory, seen by Cricbuzz, says adding,
“The Franchisees may engage in partnerships with entities in the fantasy sports sector.
The BCCI advisory is in order with the strategies of the government which has banned betting sites and treats fantasy sports as more a test of abilities than karma, as ordered by the Supreme Court of India.
In further instructions, the BCCI advisory points out,
“No Franchisee shall undertake a partnership or any kind of association with an entity that is in any way connected/related to an entity that is involved/operates, directly or indirectly, in the cryptocurrency sector.”
As an undeniable outcome, any legally binding game plan with any blockchain service provider, fan tokens, or collectibles that are directly or indirectly affiliated with the cryptocurrency sector is a no-no for the WPL.
“No franchisee shall engage with any entity that may utilize its association with a Franchise (and consequently the WPL) to propagate surrogate advertisements (i.e., an advertisement that duplicates the brand image of one product to promote another product of the same brand) to promote any entity having any kind of association or operating/functioning in the non-permissible categories mentioned above,”
the BCCI says.
It then points out,
“These guidelines form part of the WPL regulations and any breaches of these guidelines will be dealt with as per the provisions of section 6 of the Operational Rules. Any breaches of the Clothing & Equipment Regulations will be dealt with as per the provisions of the Disciplinary process. The franchisees should provide full details of the rights and benefits that will be utilized by their sponsors, not less than 10 days before the start of the season, as per the franchise commercial deliverables sheet, which will be shared by the BCCI.”