Indian cricket's governing body bans men's and women's cricket teams from signing cryptocurrency sponsorship deals.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a Mumbai-based India’s cricket governing body, has issued an advisory for the Women's Premier League teams, specifying what is not allowed for “commercial associations and other partnerships.”
According to the PlanetSport news report shared on February 14th, in a 68-page advisory, BCCI noted that it bans cricket teams from advertising or having sponsorship deals with crypto-related firms.
Did you know?
Want to get smarter & wealthier with crypto?
Subscribe - We publish new crypto explainer videos every week!
How to Buy Crypto SAFELY With a Credit Card (Animated)
In a nutshell, one of the sections in the advisory reads:
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.
Apart from cryptocurrencies, BCCI also banned cricket teams from advertising betting, gambling, real money gambling, or tobacco products and services.
On top of that, in the advisory, BCCI noted that all franchisees should provide “full details of the rights and benefits that will be utilized by their sponsors” no later than ten days before the beginning of the season.
It is not the first time BCCI banned crypto-related partnerships. At the end of 2021, BCCI prohibited all Indian Premier League teams from partnering with any exchanges related to digital assets. Before the ban, India’s Premier League had partnership deals with two local crypto exchanges, CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX.
At the end of March 2022, the news broke that India’s top crypto exchanges decided not to advertise their services during Indian Premier League matches.
It is worth noting that, most recently, one of the biggest events in the American sports industry, the National Football League (NFL) SuperBowl, was hosted with no crypto advertisements. Several sources claimed that crypto-related firm advertisement deals fell through after FTX filed for bankruptcy and caused a snowball effect in the crypto industry.
