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Najam Sethi eyes PSL expansion with two new teams

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Sethi eyes HBL PSL expansion with two new teams. But where does that leave existing franchises?

Existing franchises worried about new teams cutting into profits. Sethi claims it will be win-win for all. Says the tournament's future depends on the sale of digital rights.

By Abdullah Niazi

LAHORE: De-facto chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Najam Sethi has said that he is planning on adding two more teams to the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) in a bid to try and further grow the tournament.

Speaking to Profit, Sethi said that interest in the tournament was at an all time high and that the board was looking to utilise Peshawar, Quetta, and Faisalabad — all cities where there are international standard stadiums available. However, it is worth noting that the plan to introduce new teams into the HBL PSL has been met unfavourably by the owners of the existing franchises that are worried about sharing their profits. Sethi’s plan, while good for the HBL PSL in the long-run, threatens to disturb the hard-fought tacit truce that currently exists between the board and the franchise owners.

“I want to add two more teams. The franchises think this will cut into their profits. I disagree and will explain how it will be a win-win for all. We will bring Peshawar and Quetta/Faisalabad into the loop,” he told Profit. Sethi had also mentioned bringing more teams into the fold at the start of this year’s tournament.

“There is immense pressure to increase the number of teams in PSL, but unfortunately Ehsan Mani and Ramiz Raja made an agreement with the franchises that only six teams will play in the next two years. We have to convince the franchises to include two more teams. No one will lose anything, and if a franchise suffers a loss, the PCB will take responsibility,” he told the media back in February.

The financial model troubles

The HBL PSL follows a financial model where there is a central revenue pool where the tournament’s earnings from broadcasting, sponsorship, etc are accumulated. For the first few years of the tournament, the PCB would take 20% of this revenue pool while the remaining 80% would be split equally between the remaining franchises.

This system was renegotiated back in 2019 after the introduction of a new franchise to the tournament — the Multan Sultans. Under former chairman of the board Ramiz Raja, it was decided that the PCB would now take a 5% cut from the central revenue pool while the franchises would split the remaining 95% equally.

However, the main source of revenue for the PCB is yearly franchise fees. Overall, the teams pay the PCB around $15.65 million a year to keep the rights to the franchises. Since different teams pay different fees depending on the value of their city, there is a clear difference in how much money they are making. For example, if Quetta is only paying $1.1 million a year and Karachi is paying $2.6 million a year but the overall revenue is being divided equally between all the teams then the smaller teams are better off.

While the new 95-5 model was not perfect, it did manage to allay the concerns of a number of franchise owners. However, if more teams are introduced while that will result in more games and more revenue it will also mean the central revenue pool will be further depleted.

Another shakeup?

Earlier this week, Profit had reported that a number of franchise owners were demanding that the HBL PSL’s financial model be changed to a regional revenue model. This would mean that each team would invest in their respective region and also make money from that region. For example, under this model the Lahore Qalandars would take the revenue for all home games played at Gadaffi stadium — this would include broadcasting revenue, gate receipts, and sponsorship. They would then go and play away games as well where the host team would earn money.

“There needs to be a serious conversation that actually addresses the league model problem” says Atif Rana, owner of the Lahore Qalandars. His team has been on the forefront of the effort to promote a regional revenue league model. “If we manage to get this system in place there is no league in the world that we cannot compete with.”

“Over the years as the security situation has improved and the tournament has spread all over Pakistan this was all bound to happen. However, there are still some issues,” says Osman Sammiuddin, senior editor at ESPN Cricinfo. For starters, the security situation is changing again before our very eyes. Then again, what are you going to do about a team like Quetta? You’re definitely not going to be playing there for a very long time or hosting international players. Do Quetta and Karachi then share the revenue for National Stadium? Will Salman Iqbal agree to that? These are all problems that need to be thought about.”

“These are all problems that need to be thought about. All in all, it is a good way to run the league but it will be a while before that happens. The PCB is an old institution that does not like to cede control; they have a very purani sarkari soch. With Sethi in charge, he may feel even more strongly about this since he has been here from the beginning.”

However, Sammiuddin agrees that there need to be more teams in the tournament. “You’re a nation of 220 million people. You had the QEA trophy where Imran Khan forced the six team system to become a thing, and you want quality, but you need way more teams. And in the PSL especially you need more competition and more liveliness. And commercially I don’t think it should be an issue to sell the rights to a team for a city like say Faisalabad. There should ideally be two more teams coming in.”

Digital rights

Meanwhile, commenting further on how he was planning to expand the PSL, Sethi said that the future of the tournament was going to be deeply linked with how the digital broadcasting rights would be managed. “The Sale of Digital rights is the future model for financial growth. We are on it. If DTH comes to Pakistan, PSL will fly. If we are able to play some matches in the USA, it would be a great leap for cricket,” he says.

“Previous regimes had the wrong perspective. They thought that for psl to be successful, foreign players had to play before domestic audiences in local stadiums. But that wasn’t possible because foreign players were not ready to come to Pakistan. But i reasoned that tv and digital eyeballs mattered not full house in local stadiums. Global Broadcast rights brought in money not gate receipts. So I launched psl in dubai and it was a huge financial success, paving the way for it to be gradually branded as a Pakistani product which brought international cricket back to Pakistan.”

Link: https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk...ut-where-does-that-leave-existing-franchises/
 
The HBLPSL is here to stay. But how high can it go?

The debate between stakeholders about the tournament’s financial model is continuing even as it packs stadiums and makes good money

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

Abdullah Niazi

It was a crazy idea when it was first proposed, and it was still pretty insane by the time they actually launched it. But over the past eight years, the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) has proven to not just be a reliable cash cow for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and a rich nursery for rising cricketing talent, but also one of the few rocks of constancy that the nation has been able to rely on during trying times.

Since 2015 the HBLPSL’s brand valuation has risen to dizzying highs against all odds. Yet all is not hunky-dory in the world of franchise T20 cricket. Over the course of the past few weeks Profit reached out to and held extensive interviews with board officials, the PCB chairman, cricket writers, advertisers, and the franchise owners.

Some of them spoke on the record and quite openly. Others were more hesitant but echoed similar sentiments. Our findings were two pronged. The first discovery was that franchise owners continue to want changes made in the financial and revenue sharing model of the league. Some of the larger teams are banking on the fact that the league will eventually adopt a regional revenue model where each team collects the profits from their respective regions. Meanwhile the PCB is not so keen on ceding control of the purse strings.

This, of course, is not a cause for alarm. Negotiations between regulators and owners in the world of franchise sport are commonplace. But it is worth dissecting the HBLPSL to see how it works and makes money. And that is what brings us to our second and more heartening finding: that despite all odds the tournament continues to attract money from fans, advertisers and broadcasters that have found it valuable because of the high quality of cricket it brings to the table.

Even as Pakistan stares down the IMF to try and avoid default, the federation finds itself in the midst of multiple constitutional crises, and the board and the franchises are not quite on the same page the crowds are still packing the stadiums and people are still watching at home on television. But it is worth asking the question, how big can the HBLPSL get, and what does the immediate future look like?

A roll of the dice

Let’s take a step back to 2015. The dollar was at 110, we were in the ‘good’ part of Darnomics, the country’s political system was held together by duct tape but it hadn’t yet collapsed the way it has now, and the country’s security situation had improved significantly. At the same time, only six years had passed since the devastating terror attack on the tour bus of the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team and no one was visiting to come to Pakistan to play cricket.

In such an environment, introducing a franchise cricket tournament in Pakistan seemed a folly to most. The inaugural edition of the league was entirely hosted in the UAE. Security issues meant there was very little certainty as to when matches would start being played in Pakistan and macroeconomic instability also made the prospect of the league a risky one. Yet at the same time there was also a huge opportunity. Pakistan is a country of 220 million people where there is really only one sport that is both played and watched: cricket. With a vast dearth of entertainment, a franchise T20 tournament had the market to make it big in the country.

“Previous regimes had the wrong perspective. They thought that for HBL PSL to be successful, foreign players had to play before domestic audiences in local stadiums. But that wasn’t possible because foreign players were not ready to come to Pakistan. But i reasoned that tv and digital eyeballs mattered not full house in local stadiums. Global Broadcast rights brought in money not gate receipts. So I launched HBL PSL in Dubai and it was a huge financial success, paving the way for it to be gradually branded as a Pakistani product which brought international cricket back to Pakistan,” says Najam Sethi, current de-facto chairman of the PCB.

While most gamblers would have backed out in 2015, there were at least three stakeholders that rolled the dice and went all in. The first was the cricket board, in whose natural interest it was to make the tournament work. Then came the advertisers that put in the money and finally the team owners that bought the rights to the franchises.

“For us, Pakistan, the country, the people, and the market, are full of opportunities. So, if you take the long-term view that’s what it is – an opportunity. It is not that we are not aware of the risk, but in the long run, the benefits outweigh the risks. With 8 years of HBLPSL behind us, looking back, it seems that decision to step in at a time when people thought it was a risk, was a good one. Right now, you would say of course you should not have missed this opportunity but that is a benefit of hindsight,” says Ali Habib, Chief Marketing & Communications officer at HBL — the title sponsor of the HBLPSL.



Back then the PCB sold the rights to five franchise teams that would play the tournament for $93 million for a 10 year period. The most expensive team to be sold was Karachi Kings for $26 million, followed by Lahore Qalandars for $25 million, Peshawar Zalmi for $16 million, Islamabad United for $15 million, and the Quetta Gladiators for $11 million. Since the teams were sold for a 10-year period, the total cost was payable over 10 years in the form of a yearly franchise fee equivalent to 10% of the team’s value. Essentially, each franchise owner would rent out the use of the franchise for the year for a fixed price.

The reason Karachi and Lahore were more expensive while Islamabad, Peshawar, and Quetta were cheaper in comparison was because of the sizes of the cities. The idea was that each team would be able to become a ‘brand’ of the corresponding city. On top of this there was the understanding that eventually each franchise would have financial control corresponding to their respective city as well — which is a common practice in most franchise sports.

And over time it became clear that the HBLPSL was worth some serious money. Every year the tournament brings home the bacon for the PCB by selling tickets, selling sponsorships, and selling the broadcasting rights to the matches. In 2022, the cricket board sold the local broadcasting rights for the tournament to a consortium of ARY and PTV for the hefty price of $25 million for a two year period. Similarly, the title sponsorship, which has belonged to HBL since the beginning of the tournament, was sold to them again until 2025 for nearly $22.5 million (and this is only the title sponsorship, which means the revenue from other sponsors has not been factored in.) For the last edition of the tournament, the cricket board reported a profit worth Rs 2 billion which was split between the teams. However, while the tournament has largely been profitable, the teams have not made as much money as the board and haven’t been very happy about this revenue sharing system.

The kinks in the system

This is where things are a little rigged in favour of the board and a little against the teams (at least in the short-run). Back when the teams had first been sold by the PCB, it had been agreed that at least 80 percent of the revenue from the broadcast rights would be split equally among the five PSL franchises. The remaining 20 percent will go to the PCB. Similarly at least 50 percent of the revenue from the sponsorship rights will be shared among the franchises and the PCB will utilise the other 50 percent.

That might make it seem like the PCB is taking less money but in fact the 80% split between the teams came down to less of a cut than the board. On top of that, the teams were also paying their annual franchise fees to the tune of millions of dollars which was pocketed by the board. Separately, they also have to pay the players on their squads. Very quickly the HBLPSL franchises started running losses.

In the first year, for example, the HBLPSL turned a profit of $2.6 million. Out of this, the PCB pocketed $0.6 million while the rest of the $2 million were divided equally among the five sides – leaving each side with a mere $0.4 million. The sides all ended up making a significant loss in the first year. And how could they expect not to? In the first edition of the PSL only, the Karachi Kings for example had paid $2.6 million as their franchise fee. This was the same amount as the entirety of the PSL made. Not only did the Karachi Kings only recover $0.6 million of their initial investment for the first year, they also had to spend more on top of that.

The tournament was bringing in more revenue than it was spending money, but the franchise fees were too high for any of the teams to even come close to breaking even. While moving the tournament to Pakistan would bring in more sponsorship revenue as well as reduce costs by no longer needing to rent a venue to play, these changes would not have the sort of impact that would bring these teams out of their losses. The problem was also becoming particularly stark because all of the local owners of the teams in Pakistan were making money in the Pakistani rupee – which was fast plummeting in value – while the PCB demanded that franchise fees be paid in dollars. Effectively this meant that their fixed yearly fee was also rising.

The negotiations begin

Now here is where things stood. In 2015, franchise owners took a chance on the HBLPSL and paid high fees to get the rights to their teams. In exchange, they knew it would be a slow trek to profitability but they expected some level of leniency from the PCB and initial returns on their investment. However, the PCB continued to operate a ship that benefited them over anyone else. This obviously wasn’t going to fly for long. On top of this, very little progress was made in terms of introducing a system whereby the teams could control the revenue from their respective cities.

Essentially, under this model Lahore Qalandars would be responsible for and earn the money from all matches held at and broadcast from the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. “It makes natural sense to take ownership of the region. It gives the franchises more of an opportunity to root themselves in their region and also more avenues to try and monetize their investments,” explains Osman Samiuddin, senior editor at ESPN Cricinfo.

In January 2019, the extent to which the teams were making losses became apparent when the PCB accidentally leaked a document revealing just how much money the teams had lost in the first two editions of the tournament. Cricinfo reported that the PSL franchises incurred losses ranging from $1.4 million to $5 million each in the first two seasons of the league – leading them to demand financial restructuring of the league as well as tax exemptions from the Pakistan government.

The knowledge of the losses suddenly became apparent not just to the public, but also that the teams knew just how deep the others were in it as well. While it was embarrassing in the moment, it also helped all of the owners realise that they could work together towards revising the existing business model. Within a year, in September 2020, all six of the teams banded together and sued the PCB.

As pressure mounted with the court case the teams also began to dilly dally. They began making payments late, blaming the dividends they got from the league. Karachi and Lahore in particular became serial offenders, and the PCB ended up having to pay a lot of expenses out of pocket that they should have been paying from the money they were getting from the teams. Even when it comes to paying the players, when the PSL draft happens, the PCB pays the players and then collects the money from the franchises later or cuts it from the revenue pool before declaring its final profits.

As the PCB found itself a little weary from carrying the weight, new Chairman Ramiz Raja stepped in. A former cricket player with a stronger resolve than the more meek Ehsan Mani, Raja sat the franchises down. This was the first thing that was different – under the Mani negotiations were done half-heartedly at times not because of the Chairman but because it was not a big priority. Ramiz on the other hand sat the teams down and gave them many of the things they wanted. He also told them to take it or leave it, and reportedly when one of the team owners seemed to be showing some resistance, Ramiz said he would not hesitate to put that franchise up for rebidding if they did not join the PCB and the rest of the teams on the same page.

The first was that the teams would now get a 95 percent share of the central revenue pool rather than the 5% they used to get. As reported by Cricinfo, in the new model, all franchises will get 95% of revenue generated from all revenue streams including broadcasting rights, sponsorship rights and gate receipts from the seventh edition onward. For PSL 5 and 6, the PCB will share 98% of the central pool revenue as an additional relief in view of the Covid-19 pandemic that disrupted both seasons. In previous years, the revenue shared varied between 85% and 90%. The franchises wanted the PCB to give them rights in perpetuity but that is not part of the new model. As per the original contract franchises will have to pay an increased franchise fee [existing fee + 25% or 25% of market value of the franchise, whichever is higher].

The most important concession, however, has been that the price of the dollar exchange rate has been fixed. The price of franchises when they were auctioned was set in US dollars. In 2015, when the first five franchises came on board, the rate was PKR 105 to a dollar. Currently, the rate of a US dollar hovers above PKR 170. The agreed offer means the PCB will peg the US dollar to the day the new agreement is signed. International players will continue to be paid in USD, however. In hindsight this was a big win.

Take Karachi Kings as an example. They pay a yearly franchise fee of $2.6 million. That means at the current rate they would be paying Rs 690 million. Instead, at the fixed rate of Rs170 per dollar they are paying Rs 442 million as their franchise fee.

New edition, new management, new demands

This is where the current scenario heats up. “The PCB makes money each year, and the franchises have consistently been making losses. This naturally caused a lot of grumbling regarding the financial model,” says Samiuddin.“They’ve been operating in this sort of unhappy state for a while now. A few years ago a doc was leaked accidentally and it broke down what everyone had earned up until that point. What we can gather is that they are still invested, but maybe not every franchise necessarily in only a financial sense.”

This year, there was a massive shift in the PCB management with Ramiz Raja ousted and Najam Sethi back in the driving seat. While Sethi may have a short lived tenure depending on how long the incumbent federal government can hold office, he has been making sweeping changes. In a series of brief chats with Profit Sethi informed us that he had not yet caught up on the “mess” left behind by the previous management. However, in other conversations with senior board officials it became quite clear that the franchises and the board were not quite seeing eye to eye even if there was not an immediate flareup of tensions.

“There needs to be a serious conversation that actually addresses the league model problem” says Atif Rana, owner of the Lahore Qalandars. His team has been on the forefront of the effort to promote a regional revenue league model. “If we manage to get this system in place there is no league in the world that we cannot compete with.” The statement of course is only so much posturing. The HBLPSL cannot hope to give the IPL competition, for example, which recently sold its media rights for $6 billion. However, it is in the better interests of all the teams for this to happen.

“Over the years as the security situation has improved and the tournament has spread all over Pakistan this was all bound to happen. However, there are still some issues. For starters, the security situation is changing before our very eyes. Then again, what are you going to do about a team like Quetta? You’re definitely not going to be playing there for a very long time or hosting international players. Do Quetta and Karachi then share the revenue for National Stadium? Will Salman Iqbal agree to that? These are all problems that need to be thought about,” asks Samiuddin.

“These are all problems that need to be thought about. All in all, it is a good way to run the league but it will be a while before that happens. The PCB is an old institution that does not like to cede control; they have a very purani sarkari soch. With Sethi in charge, he may feel even more strongly about this since he has been here from the beginning,” he adds.

Another team owner speaking off the record tells us that the regional revenue model is a demand that is definitely one for the future, although it does not make sense to bring it up right now. “We need to make some calculated decisions about this. There is a lot going on right now and a lot of other demands we need to cement first. However, once the macroeconomic situation settles down we can negotiate this. Besides, who knows how long this current administration is in power for.”

Other team owners feel similarly. “We are largely happy with how the brand has risen but have sometimes felt us going from one extreme to another. The PCB made a killing with the Multan Sultans fee but that was probably going towards a different extreme and not the true value that the actual financials and brand value would put it at,” explains Ali Naqvi, owner of Islamabad United.

He is pointing towards the fact that the Multan franchise, which was introduced later in the tournament, is worth a lot more than the original five franchises. Late by just two years compared to the others, the franchise was auctioned off for a whopping $41.6 million – and that too only for an eight year period to the Schon group. However, the $5.2 million franchise fee was too much for Asher Schon to keep up with, and after one year the PCB terminated the Schon group’s ownership of the Multan Sultans on good terms. Even this, however, did not stop the price of the team from rising even more. Initially sold for a $41.6 million price tag for eight years, the team was now sold for $45 million for seven years to Aalamgir and Ali Khan Tareen. That meant the Tareens would be paying an astonishing yearly franchise fee of $6.35 million each year to keep ownership of their team.

The good parts

These of course were the brass tacks. Very strictly business disagreements that will be ironed out on the negotiating table. The good part is that the advertisers and the fans still have complete faith in the HBLPSL and its potential not just to make money but also to be a positive force for Pakistan cricket.

“The early believers who believed in the game and the numbers were also passionate people. Now with 8 years gone, all our decisions seem justifiable. At that time? It was anybody’s guess,” says Ali Habib from HBL. “I have tremendous respect for the franchise owners, they all stepped up, like us. It could have fizzled after the first or second year. They could have said oh this is not going to happen. Today, we are here. We are now looking at scaling and the possibility of more teams coming in.”

“It is difficult to say whether or not there will be any change of hands in terms of team ownership right now. My current impression is that all of the franchise owners realise that they are onto a good thing that they can make money off of. On top of that, it gets you a place in Pakistani society that really nothing else does quite like it. Multan might be the one that threatens to change ownership but they’re also paying a whole lot more compared to the others so their financial feasibility is quite skewed,” Samiuddin adds to the debate.

According to him, there is, if anything, a need to add more teams to the PSL rather than there being any issue of ownership changing hands or there having to be changes in management. “You’re a nation of 220 million people. You had the QEA trophy where Imran Khan forced the six team system to become a thing, and you want quality, but you need way more teams. And in the PSL especially you need more competition and more liveliness. And commercially I don’t think it should be an issue to sell the rights to a team for a city like say Faisalabad. There should ideally be two more teams coming in.”

And that is what it boils down to. The HBLPSL is a major effort that has brought Pakistan cricket great benefits. As things stand now, its financial model is imperfect and very much a work in progress. However, despite all kinds of macroeconomic conditions and problems, the tournament continues to enjoy the faith of advertisers, broadcasters, players, and most importantly the fans. And from here on out, if negotiations are done honestly and with open lines of communication there is nowhere other than up for the tournament to go.

Link: https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/02/25/the-hbl-psl-is-here-to-stay-but-how-high-can-it-go/
 
I hope someone resurrects Faisalabad Wolves!

The first international club T20 winner!
 
"No one will lose anything, and if a franchise suffers a loss, the PCB will take responsibility"

The crux of the problem in the country at large.

This fascination with subsidizing everything is what has brought the country to the stage to which it now. Every industry demands some form of protectionism and the government over the years has duly obliged.

Subsidization create inefficiencies and promotes laziness. When will the administrators ever understand this simple fact?

You have to force the companies to face competition and promote the concept of sink or swim. No more hand-holding.
 
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is unlikely to add more teams to the Pakistan Super League (PSL) till the tenth edition of the tournament. The franchise league currently has six teams, namely Multans Ultans, Karachi Kings, Islambad United, Peshawar Zalmi, Quetta Gladitators and Lahore Qalandars.

Earlier, former PCB chairman, Najam Sethi, proposed to include two new teams to the PSL. But he had stepped down from the role before it could be implemented. Moreover, the talks on adding new teams have come after several individuals are presented as potential new team owners in the tournament.


According to various sources, there is no possibility of adding news teams to the league. Zaka Ashraf, the PCB chairman, is hesitant to make any decision regarding the same. As per the central pool agreement, the PCB cannot add teams to the league for the first ten years.

Ashraf has not been able to meet with any franchise owners due to a hectic schedule. However, he intends to call a meeting of the governing council in the forthcoming days to examine the issues with franchise owners and find answers for the same.

As per sources, the current owners are opposed to adding more teams to the league. One of the team has said that they worked hard for all these years and planted a seed, which has now blossomed into a fruitful tree, and that new people want to reap the benefits. As it stands, while additional teams might be added to expand the league, the move seems unlikely in the near future, with PSL remaining a six-team event.

The eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League saw Lahore Qalandars defeat Multan Sultans by just one run in the summit clash to win the title for the second consecutive time. Notably, it was the Shaheen Afridi-led side's second championship in the tournament.
 
This is certainly not happening in PSL 9. May be we will see new teams added in a couple of years time.
 
In my recent interview with Sameen Rana it sounded like this isn't on the horizon just yet.

Certainly the franchises aren't too keen on it just yet, even if the PCB is.
 
Six teams really isn’t enough for a population of 200 mil +

Need to add one franchise from Kashmir that focuses on local talent and bring back Sialkot Stallions.
 
In my recent interview with Sameen Rana it sounded like this isn't on the horizon just yet.

Certainly the franchises aren't too keen on it just yet, even if the PCB is.

Franchises will never agree to it, they will make arguments that we invested in the league when no one else was ready too, we deserve to make the most amount of money possible as a result, first mover advantage.

The PCB needs to be forceful in driving in more teams from 2025 onwards. The current state of the Pakistani economy doesn't help.
 
Sameen Rana speaking to Saj:

"I think there are two elements to it. One is an emotional side of things and the other is the practical side of things."

"From the emotional side - Yes, of course we should have more teams. Why not?

"We should have a team from Kashmir, we should have a team of Sialkot, we should have a team of Hyderabad, we should have a team of Pakhtunkhwa. That is all good but how realistic is that?

"That's what we all need to think about it. Because considering the current financial situation, the current agreement we have in place, there are challenges for the sustainability of the league in the near future."

"So I think we have far more important issues to address which is the health of the league. Rather than just getting emotional, trying to just create a slogan about adding two more teams."


 
In my recent interview with Sameen Rana it sounded like this isn't on the horizon just yet.

Certainly the franchises aren't too keen on it just yet, even if the PCB is.

PCB is keen because they will get franchisee fees. Because they don't get much revenue share out of the PSL.

Franchisees don't want more teams because then the revenue will be divided into more parts.

Unless the Tv rights double from the present 12mn a year, new teams dont make sense.

PCB i hear(please confirm) has now clubbed the PSL tv rights and Pakistan's home matches tv rights together for the sale. This may not be the brightest idea.
 
They have still not expanded the number of teams in the PSL. I think we should have teams from Gilgit/Baltistan and AJK as well. From Punjab, we can bring Sialkot, from KPK, we can bring Mardan,from Sindh, Hyderabad and from Balochistan, it can be Gwadar.
 
Good idea.

6 teams are too low considering 4 teams go to playoffs.

Need to have 8 teams minimum to make things more competitive.
 
Cricket Joshilla is correct. Unless PCB does a bonanza on tv rights, we can't add more teams to the PSL.
 
PCB is keen because they will get franchisee fees. Because they don't get much revenue share out of the PSL.

Franchisees don't want more teams because then the revenue will be divided into more parts.

Unless the Tv rights double from the present 12mn a year, new teams dont make sense.

PCB i hear(please confirm) has now clubbed the PSL tv rights and Pakistan's home matches tv rights together for the sale. This may not be the brightest idea.
psl tv rights money goes to franchise or pcb?
 
psl tv rights money goes to franchise or pcb?
Franchises take estimately 95% of the CENTRAL POOL. PCB gets 5%.
With 95%, Karachi and Lahore are finally break even and Multan is still in loss. And people want more teams

Anyways,
CENTRAL POOL includes Title Sponsorship (HBL),
Various other sponsors you see during toss, presentation, time outs etc
Gate Money and Ofcourse TV and Digital Rights (which is the bulk of the central pool)

Its divided EQUALLY among all franchises

PCB earns mainly from Franchise Fee that all the 6 franchises pay every year
Which is estimately 13-14 million dollars combined

Franchises also bear the operational costs equally. PCB doesn't

So Quetta pays franchise fee of 1.1 million dollars every year- Multan pays around 4 million but they end up earning the same amount of money
However, Multan was a late entry and there was little risk when the owners baught Multan so makes sense

Lahore and Karachi however pay around 2.3 to 2.5 million dollars each as they are big cities and should have more fans
Can sell more merchandise and sponsors need to pay more if they want to show themselves on merchandise of these teams
 
PCB feels the franchises lack ambition, drive and are very happy, content with the status quo. There is no incentive, drive on their part to develop their franchise fan engagement, to take ownership of their local stadiums, to really maximize revenue from merchandising or other products.

Hence why once the 10 year franchise agreements are over, the PCB wants to put the franchises up for sale in the market again wheras the existing franchises are demanding that they be given the franchise in perpetuity and are making emotional arguments ie we invested in the PSL and took the risk when no one was willing to invest and therefore we now deserve to be compensated ie by being given permanent rights to the team with no franchise fees after the ten year period is over.

I certainly hope that the PCB resells Karachi Kings and Quetta Gladiators to someone else with more ambition for the franchises and if that means finding foreign owners then so be it. These psl franchises have to be run more ruthlessly and professionally.

Enough of the dosti yaari, personal relationships. No professional franchise would have put up with Wasim Akrams, Sarfaraz Ahmeds, Moin Khan's output for very long.
 
PCB feels the franchises lack ambition, drive and are very happy, content with the status quo. There is no incentive, drive on their part to develop their franchise fan engagement, to take ownership of their local stadiums, to really maximize revenue from merchandising or other products.

Hence why once the 10 year franchise agreements are over, the PCB wants to put the franchises up for sale in the market again wheras the existing franchises are demanding that they be given the franchise in perpetuity and are making emotional arguments ie we invested in the PSL and took the risk when no one was willing to invest and therefore we now deserve to be compensated ie by being given permanent rights to the team with no franchise fees after the ten year period is over.

I certainly hope that the PCB resells Karachi Kings and Quetta Gladiators to someone else with more ambition for the franchises and if that means finding foreign owners then so be it. These psl franchises have to be run more ruthlessly and professionally.

Enough of the dosti yaari, personal relationships. No professional franchise would have put up with Wasim Akrams, Sarfaraz Ahmeds, Moin Khan's output for very long.
The problem came from the Pakistani state and the narrative we wanted to build and not from the franchises

Whichever teams wins- at the end of the day Pakistan won
WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE?

This was repeated multiple times by the PCB, fans, ex-cricketers, Pakistani commentators, journalists and just about everyone

So rivalries couldn't develop in the PSL like we see in IPL and football leagues

I have watched a lot of football and no one says during the Manchester United- City match that whoever wins- at the end of the day Manchester won. This will take out interest in the match altogether

Coming to finances,
There's a central pool which is shared EQUALLY by all franchises
PCB negotiates Title Sponsorship, other sponsors, tv/digital rights so nothing franchises can do to increase that number

The only way a franchise can show its business acumen is by
1- sale of merchandise
2- getting maximum money from sponsors displayed on merchandise

With the lenient laws we have regarding sale of fake products, do you really think franchises are at fault if they cant sell their merchandise? And people instead buy fake ones

Last year Karachi finally had break even as it took a lot of money from the surrogate betting company it displayed on its shirt
With that being banned now, again It will go into loss
Brands in Pakistan CANNOT afford spending fortunes on marketing unlike India where there are multiple Product companies that have reached unicorm status
How are the franchises at fault?
 
So, 2 more teams in the Hundred and 2 more teams in the PSL.

This, in addition to the SA20 and the IL20 etc.

Looks like, despite all the talk to the contrary, even ECB does not really care as much about Test cricket outside of the Ashes.

PCB has anyway given up on Test cricket so this was only expected.
 
More teams won't matter much until PSL is played in Pakistan and all the top players are willing to come and play here. PCB needs to work on making the fans come to the stadium and watch the games.
 
More teams won't matter much until PSL is played in Pakistan and all the top players are willing to come and play here. PCB needs to work on making the fans come to the stadium and watch the games.

2025 PSL is likely to clash with IPL. Forget about getting top players.

But last PSL was played in Pakistan only. Had no issues. Is there some new issue now?
 
2025 PSL is likely to clash with IPL. Forget about getting top players.

But last PSL was played in Pakistan only. Had no issues. Is there some new issue now?
Nope. There was no issue last time. Psl did well when held completely in pakistan. Need to make it even better.
 
Franchises take estimately 95% of the CENTRAL POOL. PCB gets 5%.
With 95%, Karachi and Lahore are finally break even and Multan is still in loss. And people want more teams

Anyways,
CENTRAL POOL includes Title Sponsorship (HBL),
Various other sponsors you see during toss, presentation, time outs etc
Gate Money and Ofcourse TV and Digital Rights (which is the bulk of the central pool)

Its divided EQUALLY among all franchises

PCB earns mainly from Franchise Fee that all the 6 franchises pay every year
Which is estimately 13-14 million dollars combined

Franchises also bear the operational costs equally. PCB doesn't

So Quetta pays franchise fee of 1.1 million dollars every year- Multan pays around 4 million but they end up earning the same amount of money
However, Multan was a late entry and there was little risk when the owners baught Multan so makes sense

Lahore and Karachi however pay around 2.3 to 2.5 million dollars each as they are big cities and should have more fans
Can sell more merchandise and sponsors need to pay more if they want to show themselves on merchandise of these teams

The bulk of the revenue from franchisees will come from Tv rights and thats a paltry 12mn a year.

Each team will not even get 2mn a year from tv rights and at best get 2.5-3mn in total from all streams.

Most teams pay 2mn plus a year in franchisee fees some as high as 6mn. Add to that the cost of organising the tournament plus player salaries and logistics and cost of running the team.

How will they make money?

Ofcourse its expected that franchisee owners are deep pocketed and will take losses in their stride. But that isn't happening in the PSL.

PCB is hardly making money out of PSL revenues. So they want more teams to maximize revenues via franchisee fees and adding more teams.

But with such low revenue, additional teams don't make any financial sense for the existing teams.

Unless the revenue distribution from central pool reaches 5mn per franchisee, extra teams will just financially ruin the existing teams.

Now PCB has clubbed the PSL and Pakistan cricket tv rights together and it will become a contentious issue in future.
 
Countries economic conditions directly and indirectly effect the products within including PSL.

With recent economic downfall. It has been tough on most businesses working in local currency.
 
The bulk of the revenue from franchisees will come from Tv rights and thats a paltry 12mn a year.

Each team will not even get 2mn a year from tv rights and at best get 2.5-3mn in total from all streams.

Most teams pay 2mn plus a year in franchisee fees some as high as 6mn. Add to that the cost of organising the tournament plus player salaries and logistics and cost of running the team.

How will they make money?

Ofcourse its expected that franchisee owners are deep pocketed and will take losses in their stride. But that isn't happening in the PSL.

PCB is hardly making money out of PSL revenues. So they want more teams to maximize revenues via franchisee fees and adding more teams.

But with such low revenue, additional teams don't make any financial sense for the existing teams.

Unless the revenue distribution from central pool reaches 5mn per franchisee, extra teams will just financially ruin the existing teams.

Now PCB has clubbed the PSL and Pakistan cricket tv rights together and it will become a contentious issue in future.
Woww man.
Thank You for this post

Hopefully many people read this
The exact thing I have been saying for the longest time now
How can you squeeze the Central Pool even more when 6 teams are still not profitable?

Owners bought teams mostly for self publicity. Nowadays, with so many YouTube channels with millions of subscribers covering rich people and making them famous- there is no need to buy a PSL team for publicity
So wont be any takers at the price Multan went

However, I heard the surrogate betting company that was displayed on Karachi's merchandise was paying them A LOT of money. So Karachi was able to break even. And they pay the second highest franchise fee.
But now that is banned as well
 
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