My11Circle named title sponsor for Lucknow IPL team

Games24x7’s fantasy sports platform, My11Circle has signed up with RP-Sanjiv Goenka group’s Lucknow IPL team franchise as its official title sponsor. 

The three-year deal will see the My11Circle logo featuring on the Lucknow team jersey, said the company in a statement.

Bhavin Pandya, co-founder and co-CEO for Games24x7, said they were excited to announce their first IPL team sponsorship and the Lucknow team is a perfect fit as it represents the heartland of the country where cricket fans have ardently supported the sport and now get an opportunity to support their own team. "We believe that this partnership will further strengthen our engagement with millions of cricket fans across India," he said.

Raghu Iyer, CEO, RPSG Sports said they were delighted to have them as their principal team sponsor.

Games24x7 recently made its first strategic investment in Ahmedabad-based free cricket scoring app, CricHeroes, to reach under-penetrated grassroots cricket in India and create experiences for them.

The Lucknow franchise is one of the new teams apart from the Ahmedabad franchise that will play IPL in 2023. The team currently has no name and is running a contest on social media platforms where fans can suggest the team a name. “We wanted to be inclusive and the idea was really to take suggestions from all fans, all stakeholders, everyone all across. This is being run online across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,” said Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of the RPSG Group that owns the Lucknow IPL Team.

Currently, the team has roped in former Zimbabwean cricket coach and former cricketer Andy Flower to be their head coach for the season. The team also has appointed former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir as the mentor of the Lucknow IPL franchise.

According to Duff & Phelps, a financial consultancy, the value of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has fallen 3.6% to ₹45,800 crore after the 2020 season from ₹47,500 crore a year ago. One of the main reasons for this was that Vivo pulled out of the title sponsorship deal, costs involved in creating a secure bio-bubble, and the lack of gate receipts.