DLF Pulls Out Of IPL Sponsorship

All those viewers of the IPL who had got fed up of listening to every six being called a 'DLF Maximum' will have some respite from the next edition of the tournament. Title sponsors for 5 years, the real estate giant DLF has decided to not continue its association with the Indian Premiere League (IPL).

Rajeev Talwar, DLF Group Executive Director has this to say "Sponsoring IPL over the last five years was a strategic decision wherein we wanted to establish our brand presence across India as the leading real estate player. Our IPO came in 2007, a year before the IPL started. We were very aggressive pan-India then. We had good presence in all big cities."

According to reports during the time of bidding in 2007, DLF had agreed to sponsor the event for Rs.40 crore per year. And have now stated that they have spent close to Rs. 250 crore over the period of five years. With the television ratings taking a hit DLF was always expected to be hesitant in renewing its contract, especially since the BCCI had asked for a higher sponsorship amount for the coming years.

DLF meanwhile stated that they would continue sponsoring the Davis Cup and also the DLF Masters golf tournament and also pump in money into other sports, without purchasing any teams. After Nokia and Airtel pulled out of the Champions League, Sahara too had threatened to pull its team out of the IPL and cut off all associations with the BCCI, only to retract its decision just before the start of IPL 2012.