Dialog Axiata made the largest bid

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have received a sponsorship bid that is 75 per cent more profitable than their current deal after they issued tenders for a period of three years, starting from June 1 this year.

Sri Lanka’s biggest mobile phone company Dialog Axiata made the largest bid at 1.077 billion rupees (US$8.5 million), while government-owned Sri Lanka Tea Board and Total Sports Asia and Madison Media both made bids as well.

As of right now, both the men’s and women’s teams are sponsored by Mobitel after they were awarded a contract in 2009 when they agreed to pay US$4.85 million over a three-year period.

However, Mobitel did not renew their bid this year.

According to SLC treasurer Nuski Mohamed, both bids from the Tea Board and Total Sports Asia hovered around the 900 million rupees (US$7.1 million) mark.

Despite knowing the huge amount of profits that could be made by offering the contract to Dialog Axiata, SLC have announced that they will still deliberate if it is the right move financially or not.

“There are lots of things to be considered, including national interest, so the committee will take all those into account when they evaluate the bids,” Mohamed said.

If “national interest” is indeed to be a major factor, then it is likely that the contract will be offered to the Tea Board, who oversee the entire tea industry in the country, which amounts to about 12 per cent of the country’s GDP.

SLC are also set to issue tenders for broadcast rights for the next seven years, for which the contract is set to begin on April 1.