What solution have you got for this?
I like what Ramiz Raja is doing, he knows the limits to the broadcasting revenue the PCB and the PSL can achieve and earn. He is trying to move the PCB towards looking for other alternative sources of revenue growth and for the PCB and Pakistan in general to grow its own Cricket economy.
He has urgently demanded a need for the PCB to evaluate and list down a detailed listing of all possible assets that the PCB owns and can sell to stakeholders in exchange for an annual fee or for the PCB to pass on the responsibility of upkeep to others thereby freeing up the PCB funds to be used for more urgent high value projects.
Since RR has taken over, you have seen him run door to door to various individual Pakistani businesses ie the Karachi business community, Pakistan Stock Exchange etc. He is breath of fresh air from the past PCB officials who had the attitude that since Cricket is the largest and most major sports in the country, all the interested stakeholders will automatically come on board if they are interested, the PCB doesn't have to go to anyone. He knows that as PCB chairman, he has to sell Pakistan Cricket and if that means himself going door to door to stakeholders then so be it.
We are now seeing the fruits of this strategy
- Arif Habib has agreed to sponsor two drop in pitches in Pakistan
- AKD has agreed to fund the construction and development of a rest house next to the National Stadium, Karachi
You can also see other endeavours from him
- Creating an U19 and a woman's PSL. The purpose behind this is to create an additional revenue stream for the PSL regardless of how much that will be
- The PCB has posted an advertisement requesting for sponsors to buy out the rights for stadium ownership, maintenance for 3-4 cricket stadiums ie National Stadium, Qadhaffi Stadium, Pindi Cricket Stadium. If this is done, this will create additional revenue streams for the board.
- Based on media reports RR is trying to find sponsors for our U19 teams and for our A team tours so that the PCB does not have to pay out of pocket for these endeavours
These are just some of the things that RR is trying to do as of now. I am sure he has other ideas as well. One can mock, jeer and make fun of what he is doing as much as possible but at least you have a proactive chairman who is taking his job seriously and going door to door to get Pakistan Cricket up on its feet and away from over reliance on ICC and the limited broadcasting revenues
With regards to the PSL, I thoroughly agree with Ramiz Rajas vision of
- PSL having to change its window from Jan to March to the summer going forward as this window is just to congested and infested with the BPL, BBL, Emirates League, IPL etc
The summer window of June to September will still not be easy as that will clash with the CPL, Natwest League, Hundred so the PCB will have to look at its calendar and create space accordingly where there is no clash. The PCB and the local government authorities also needs to develop cricket stadiums and five star hotels in the cooler regions of Pakistan ie Abbotabad, Peshawar, Gilgit Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Quetta, Gwadar, this requires a massive injection of funds and working on a war footing on a daily basis from today to ensure these projects are completed 2-3 years down the road
People who are criticizing and mocking the PSL and the Pakistani economy that the league will only achieve so much need to remember that when the league was first set up in 2016, it had no commercial viability, the initial tv rights deal the PCB signed was for $10 million for 3 years and title sponsorship was for $5.2 million for 3 years wheras the annual fees the teams were paying close to $10 million.
Now the broadcasting revenue, live streaming revenue and title sponsorship revenue according to online sources I read was $25 million per year for the next two years whereas the franchise fees is bw $15-16 million, so the league has grown for sure, perhaps not at the level we wanted or expected vis a vis the IPL but has grown never the less. If the goal is to compete with the IPL, then obviously these figures and the quality of players playing in the PSL is depressing, if the goal is to have a league which is number two vis a vis the IPL and gives the PCB an alternative revenue stream, the nation of Pakistan a feel good factor, entertainment, enjoyment, an opportunity for local talent to be highlighted, to share dressing rooms with international players, coaches and to earn good money, then the league is successful without a doubt.
I would like the PCB, PSL franchise owners shed their egos aside, acknowledge where the PSL is right now and reach a joint common understanding of where they want to take the league going forward. Like they did in 2016 when the league had no commercial viability, they need to bite the bullet and pay out of cost and view things as an investment
- The salary cap in the PSL for each franchise needs to go up from the existing $950,000 to $2-3 million per franchise. The franchises contribute 67% and the PCB contributes 33% View these costs as an investment necessary to bring the best possible top tier foreign players to Pakistan and have faith that these investments will pay off big time in the form of increased sponsorship revenues, broadcasting revenues going forward
- Like the PCB did in the T20 WC where Bank Alfalfah agreed to foot the bill for the wages for Philander and Hayden, why not find a group of sponsors and encourage them to foot the bill necessary to bring the top foreign players to the PSL
- The PCB needs to keep its ego aside and keep approaching the big pockets of Pakistan ie Hashwani, Mansha, Anwer Pervez, Malik Riaz, Shahid Khan. These are just the well known big pocket individuals with big money inside and outside Pakistan, so many others I can't even mention here. Don't just restrict yourself to Pakistanis, reach out to Arabs, Chinese, Turkish individuals, take advantage of the goodwill Pakistan has with these nations and with individuals of these countries.
- I remember watching a tv program where the host mentioned that the biggest issue right now with the PSL is that the league has still not been fully sold and connected to the masses. Ie you don't see any small local sponsors in the league ie lifebuoy soap, shahi mehwa, guy soap type ads in the PSL and that in order to maximize the commercial angle from the local market then the PCB had to bring all the small local sponsors on board and have the approach small drops make an ocean
- Just like Cricket and the IPL in India is broadcast in multiple local regional languages. The PCB needs to ensure that PTV broadcasts the event entirely in Urdu and A Sports in English. In fact the PCB should have also ensured the league being broadcast in Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi, Kashmiri. For eg. Now everyone in Pakistan has a cell phone with Facebook, YouTube access, my driver watches live YouTube talk shows on his cell phone and carries a Jazz Zong tongle with him. He will definitely watch a cricket match live on his cell phone if it is broadcast in Urdu and Pashto.
All these things will not happen immediately in one go but these are the things where the commercial viability of the PSL has to be maximized on
Our teams are already idiotic with their draft picks never mind being trust with auction money
