PSL and its franchises have failed to become a brand

[Major]

Often discussion about PSL vs IPL goes on in the subcontinent cricket circle. The Pakistani side of argument would always be on the basis of quality of pacers being used, while the Indian side of argument is on the financial stats.

But one thing that both parties never discuss is the brand image of their respective leagues. What is it that attracts large monies towards IPL, and is the branding of not only the league itself, but by the respective franchises as well.

There is a difference between traditional branding and sports branding!

Traditional branding just involves having that brand name and have advertisement of your product being aired on different modes of media.

Sports branding on the other hand is much different. Sports marketing has one major factor that differentiate with other kinds of indsutralia specific marketing and that is the building of Personal Identity. A team builds its identity which the fan than tries to adopt. To build this identity you start specific campaigns, you communicate with the fans all the time, you associate with specific brands, and you also associate with those kind of players that resonate with your brand.

This is also the difference between IPL and PSL.

IPL and its franchises are involved in Sports marketing, while PSL is still stuck in traditional marketing.

What IPL has done

If we look at the IPL title sponsor, each sponsor came with a goal to expand itself. DLF is a real estate business, and in the B2B sector marketing yourself could be difficult, yet DLF became synonymous with IPL. It was DLF IPL. Vivo and OPPO joined in later, Vivo as title sponsor while OPPO advertised itself as both these brands were launching cheaper high quality smart phones in the subcontinent.
Infact, the branding is taken so serious that that one of the reasons why Pepsi was put off by IPL was because of the spot fixing scandal of 2013.

If we talk about the teams branding and how they resonate with their fans, Rajistan Royals wear a pink uniform to represent the pink city of Jaipur. KKR which performs bad in IPL is always a financial success due to its branding. Same goes with Mumbai Indians.

IG international airport (New Delhi), had huge banners of the Delhi Daredevil stars back in 2011. Thats how you market your team even in off season.

What PSL continues to do

First the PCB itself isn't sure, whether Pakistan International cricket is more important or the PSL. They shifted the PSL towards January when it is held during February to march. The reason for that was they wanted Australia to tour to Pakistan.

Now, PSL does make a theme song or anthem, which is important because fans like to dance to that tune or create that mental feeling with a tournament through that song. For example, 2021 was known for Groove Mera. Yes it gets discussed and talked about but later on fans accept it and groove to the music.

But what is interesting is how dead the news of PSL is which is about to happen in a weeks time. No news, no posters or anything going on. Branding is more important in the off season, as thats when you try to make sure fans are engage.

Drafts took place, but only a small niche of people cared about it.

The franchising branding itself is a big problem and which [MENTION=2501]Savak[/MENTION] has rightly pointed out that if the franchises themselves cant brand their product properly than why cry about loses to PCB.

Islamabad United caters to both Islamabad and Rawalpindi fans, but they never make a music video or do fan engagements. For example, the team has a small group within the team called roti group, which could be used for marketing purposely, but yet they dont use such small things to their advantage.
Instead they are harping about some first ever art and cricket collaboration which makes no sense. Just like how they gave their front jersey sponsor to Dostea which is not even available in Pakistani market that easily.

Multan and Quetta are also no different. Quetta doesnt bother to cater to Baluchistani fans, and is more focused towards Karachi. Who the hell in Baluchistan understands what a gladiator is. Knowing how things are bad in Baluchistan, the Quetta Gladiators can start different initiatives to help develop brand value. Multan aswell has done nothing about its brand.

Only Peshawar Zalmi under Javed Afridi deserves alot of respect. Peshawar Zalmi uses different ways to communicate with fans, they have used the local Peshawari vloggers and influencers. The Zalmi team associates itself with high end brands like Nike, Mcdonalds, MG, Haeir, Huawei which communicates Peshawar Zalmi as being a high end brand aswell.
In season 1 they milked Afridi and had all the pathans supporting them. But what I really admire about Javed afridi was that he used a player from the West Indies called Darren Sammy, to market to the people of KPK. Sammy didnt have the much brand value world wide, but Javed Afridi used the personality of the player well.

To get fans engage in offseason aswell, Zalmi made Zalmi Cafes, Zalmi perfume, and even Zalmi foundation which works with the UNCHR. They even have Zalmi Tv. You can further read about Zalmis branding here https://aurora.dawn.com/news/1143722. Aurora is a marketing magazine by DAWN news which analyzes new marketing and branding trends in Pakistan

Peshawari people often do wear the Zalmi shirt and the pathans love this brand even if a pathan is not the captain.

Than there is Lahore Qalanders. Punjab and its city Lahore is the main cricket house, and the reason that forced me to make this thread is the video below. Watch the video and the jersey itself and judge for yourself how bad things are.

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Unless, PSL and its franchises improve its branding it won't even become a financial success. People think IPL success was due to its population, but its more to do with Branding. ICL existed aswell, but many people werent aware of it happening as it wasnt marketed aswell as how IPL was with affiliated marketing with film starts.

Its been 7 years and PSL is yet lagging behind in become a brand.

 

[Rana]

Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi are very good brands

The other franchises seem nonexistent.

 

[Savak]

Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi are very good brands

The other franchises seem nonexistent.

The other Franchises only run 2 months in the year and go missing for the remaining 10 months.

LQ is the only franchise i.e. actually interested in developing players whereas PZ has branched out into other areas i.e. merchandising, perfumes e.t.c.

This is just a reflection of the seth culture in pakistan.

 

[Major]

The other Franchises only run 2 months in the year and go missing for the remaining 10 months.

LQ is the only franchise i.e. actually interested in developing players whereas PZ has branched out into other areas i.e. merchandising, perfumes e.t.c.

This is just a reflection of the seth culture in pakistan.

lq does talent hunts, but lq is not branding itself.

It has made itself a poor mans brand. If you are using the word qalander than use that in your branding atleast. Just having a talent hunt doenst mean anything.

What PZ is doing is exactly what branding is. LQ is not doing anything for its brand.

The only way PSL brand value increases and these franchises will make money by developing their own brand value and not just be player development.

Even with a player development program, each year they have the worst youngster representing them.

Islamabd has 2-3 youngsters and the reason for that they dont waste money on talent hunts, they just pull in the top names from northerns youth system.

 

[Savak]

lq does talent hunts, but lq is not branding itself.

It has made itself a poor mans brand. If you are using the word qalander than use that in your branding atleast. Just having a talent hunt doenst mean anything.

What PZ is doing is exactly what branding is. LQ is not doing anything for its brand.

The only way PSL brand value increases and these franchises will make money by developing their own brand value and not just be player development.

Even with a player development program, each year they have the worst youngster representing them.

Islamabd has 2-3 youngsters and the reason for that they dont waste money on talent hunts, they just pull in the top names from northerns youth system.

According to some news reporters who were close to these Franchise owners, the major reason why most of the franchise owners are not going out of their way to develop their franchises and brands is out of the fear that they will not be able to receive any major ROI from the Pakistani market, under fear that they will have to pay higher Franchise fees to the PCB for the right to use the franchise and once the ten year period is up, having to pay the PCB a higher amount for the right to use the franchise.

Extremely poor, pathetic thinking

 

[ElRaja]

beyond simply auctioning the franchises, each franchise should also be assessed on their overall professionalism and commitment to the project, these evaluations should go towards qualification and discounts for subsequent franchise auctions.

so say someone like zalmi would get a match best offer or 10% discount going forward, so if a new corp bids $50 mill, they have an option to match it and win the auction, or if they bid more than anyone else, say $50 mill, they get a 10% discount

whereas someone like gladiators should simply be barred from the subsequent auction, they have made such little effort with the team. the PCB should create objective metrics to measure owner performance, id include:

1. financial stewardship (25%)
2. branding, merchandise and marketing (20%)
3. player development (20%)
4. discipline and professionalism (10%)
5. development of activities within region (10%)
6. ethics (5%)
7. tie ups with domestic first class teams (5%)
8. international reach (foreign franchise agreements,etc) (5%)

the PCB is hardly the most professionally run organisation, I mean if the national team cant secure a decent kit manufacturer what hope do these franchises have.

 

[sam_ahm]

Cricket has always been a 'country v country' game, that is how it has come this far. This obsession with football has to end, we will never see a Manchester Utd or a Liverpool like brands coming through.

Cricket still cannot survive without international games.

IPL itself won't survive if team India don't perform well. Already the knives are out on IPL after this poor tour of RSA.

 

[light]

This is just a reflection of the seth culture in pakistan.

This might be more of a hiring the right marketing people rather than a cultural thing. If one franchise (LQ) is able to pull it off, I see no reason why other franchise can't.

But, aside from IPL, this is a common thing I have seen in other leagues around the world. SPL, BPL, CPL, etc, none of the teams does a good job at promotion after the league ends for the year. Heck, some even changes names of the same team yearly it seems.

 

[cricketjoshila]

Before the franchisee, PSL has to become a successful brand.

 

[cricketjoshila]

This might be more of a hiring the right marketing people rather than a cultural thing. If one franchise (LQ) is able to pull it off, I see no reason why other franchise can't.

But, aside from IPL, this is a common thing I have seen in other leagues around the world. SPL, BPL, CPL, etc, none of the teams does a good job at promotion after the league ends for the year. Heck, some even changes names of the same team yearly it seems.

You need very deep pockets and a good business strategy to build brands. Its lacking in most leagues, other than IPL.

Except PZ, i haven't seen any non IPL franchisee building a brand.

 

[Major]

Cricket has always been a 'country v country' game, that is how it has come this far. This obsession with football has to end, we will never see a Manchester Utd or a Liverpool like brands coming through.

Cricket still cannot survive without international games.

IPL itself won't survive if team India don't perform well. Already the knives are out on IPL after this poor tour of RSA.

It isnt obsession with football. Every franchise model in the world runs like that. Nhl, nfl and many others are good example. Ipl has done good branding.

Even the bbl teams are well branded aswell. Their marchandise sells. They bought in the concept of cricket snapbacks. Snapbacks are the caps that are bought in north america of nhl,mlb,nba teams. Bbl was able to introduce cricket version of snapback caps.

India not performing well has got nothing to do with ipl because what is being discussed is the marketing aspect.

 

[Major]

According to some news reporters who were close to these Franchise owners, the major reason why most of the franchise owners are not going out of their way to develop their franchises and brands is out of the fear that they will not be able to receive any major ROI from the Pakistani market, under fear that they will have to pay higher Franchise fees to the PCB for the right to use the franchise and once the ten year period is up, having to pay the PCB a higher amount for the right to use the franchise.

Extremely poor, pathetic thinking

The problem is these guys dont understand sports marketing.

They failed to build their own brands and will blame it on pcb at the end.

To me it seems, most of these franchises could be money laundering schemes....

 

[PakPremi]

Cricket has always been a 'country v country' game, that is how it has come this far. This obsession with football has to end, we will never see a Manchester Utd or a Liverpool like brands coming through.

Cricket still cannot survive without international games.

IPL itself won't survive if team India don't perform well. Already the knives are out on IPL after this poor tour of RSA.

Exactly as a life long cricket fan I could not care less about Lahore or Karachi or any other franchise. These Tamasha leagues are just that a Tamasha, with Stars playing for different teams if not each year than few years time. Nothing to connect with as a fan.

 

[Varun]

Very good OP, but I am one more that agrees with the below:

Cricket has always been a 'country v country' game, that is how it has come this far. This obsession with football has to end, we will never see a Manchester Utd or a Liverpool like brands coming through.

Cricket still cannot survive without international games.

IPL itself won't survive if team India don't perform well. Already the knives are out on IPL after this poor tour of RSA.

 

[arif_2021]

It’s success is in surviving 15 years despite being exiled and beating you in two global events in a one sided manner despite efforts by BCCI to isolate Pakistan.

Thank you.

 

[Major]

Exactly as a life long cricket fan I could not care less about Lahore or Karachi or any other franchise. These Tamasha leagues are just that a Tamasha, with Stars playing for different teams if not each year than few years time. Nothing to connect with as a fan.

sorry to say but that is how future sports will be.

Cricket joined the bandwagon late, but every other sport has been made franchise format. Because the money is there to be made, not in international.

To connect city teams with fans you need proper marketing and branding of your team which PSL has not done and what this thread is about.

North American Sports leagues thrive on this model, same goes for Australian leagues. India in our region has pulled it off aswell and it resulted in kabaddi and other leagues. So why are we standing behind?

The lahore Qalander jersey release that happened yesterday was a big joke coming from franchise that represents a city which is the heart of Pakistan cricket

 

[IMMY69]

The brands will continue to grow until, as I suspect, the game will eventually die a slow death and the only thing surviving will be the IPL due it's people who clearly don't care about the quality of cricket they're watching.

 

[Major]

The brands will continue to grow until, as I suspect, the game will eventually die a slow death and the only thing surviving will be the IPL due it's people who clearly don't care about the quality of cricket they're watching.

I think some of you dont understand the difference between brand building and player development and thus posters like you keep confusing both things. Just because you are working on player development it does not mean you are developing your brand. Nor does player development increase your brand value by huge margins.

Lahore qalander might be sending its players to yorkshite or to melbourne, but as a brand what has it done? Do the punjabis and lahoris identify themselves with lahore qalanders?

PSL and the franchises exist to create value and to make money. Your league performance could be bad but money can still be made. You could be the winner of the league yet you may end up losing money.

Ipl 1 is the beat example of this where rajistan won and kolkata were pretty bad, yet it was kolkata that was a financial success unlike rajistan which only became to be known as a budget team. Even rajistan was the team that did what lahore qalanders did by bringing in raw talented guys.

By the 7th psl, the brand should had been grown, but sadly they have not. Lahore qalanders jersey video is a simple example of how terrible it is.

If these brands dont grow, no broadcaster is gonna pay good money and no good sponsorships will want to come.

Its ridiculous that psl relies on ptv, a state broadcaster, to survive... Thats like IPL selling main broadcasting rights to doordashan....

If these franchises stay under value, there wont be any future franchises either and these franchise models need continuous growth to work and make money. When you have a good brand playing, you can charge high ticket prices and sell merchandice and make good money.

Quality of cricket doesnt matter, if you end up bringinf in best quality players and have the grounds for them. If there are no spectator showing up to game and there isnt any fan hype than the league itself will die out.

 

[Saj]

LQ is the only franchise i.e. actually interested in developing players

LQ make financial gains from the players they develop.

If any of the players that have come through their talent hunt programmes go on to play in other tournaments, LQ management get a cut of the money. So it's a huge incentive for them to focus on the talent hunts, even if they do nothing else.

Faridoun, Danyal etc etc - if they play in the BBL, that's rupees in the pocket of the LQ owners.

 

[IMMY69]

I think some of you dont understand the difference between brand building and player development and thus posters like you keep confusing both things. Just because you are working on player development it does not mean you are developing your brand. Nor does player development increase your brand value by huge margins.

Lahore qalander might be sending its players to yorkshite or to melbourne, but as a brand what has it done? Do the punjabis and lahoris identify themselves with lahore qalanders?

PSL and the franchises exist to create value and to make money. Your league performance could be bad but money can still be made. You could be the winner of the league yet you may end up losing money.

Ipl 1 is the beat example of this where rajistan won and kolkata were pretty bad, yet it was kolkata that was a financial success unlike rajistan which only became to be known as a budget team. Even rajistan was the team that did what lahore qalanders did by bringing in raw talented guys.

By the 7th psl, the brand should had been grown, but sadly they have not. Lahore qalanders jersey video is a simple example of how terrible it is.

If these brands dont grow, no broadcaster is gonna pay good money and no good sponsorships will want to come.

Its ridiculous that psl relies on ptv, a state broadcaster, to survive... Thats like IPL selling main broadcasting rights to doordashan....

If these franchises stay under value, there wont be any future franchises either and these franchise models need continuous growth to work and make money. When you have a good brand playing, you can charge high ticket prices and sell merchandice and make good money.

Quality of cricket doesnt matter, if you end up bringinf in best quality players and have the grounds for them. If there are no spectator showing up to game and there isnt any fan hype than the league itself will die out.

PSL will continue only until the businessmen are prepared to throw their money away.
But for those that love test cricket it is already working. Why? Because it's a platform for bribing back cricket to Pakistan.

That's about it.

Franchise cricket is not something i or many cricket lovers will watch, unless we have a couple of free hours and there is nothing else to watch on TV.

Cricket is dying

 

[Major]

LQ make financial gains from the players they develop.

If any of the players that have come through their talent hunt programmes go on to play in other tournaments, LQ management get a cut of the money.

and thats sadly a very flawed strategy LQ have adopted. Lahore is the main city of cricket, and even yet this franchise is not able to create media value for itself.

Nielson Sports are a market research company owned by Nielson Company. They did research back than in 2018 and Peshawar and Karachi emerged as the two teams that had the highest media valuation with Zalmi being on top. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/337172-peshawar-zalmi-emerge-as-most-valuable-psl-franchise

LQ was bought for $25 million for ten years, while PZ was around $16 million. Yet the cheaper team has ended up developing more value

 

[Major]

PSL will continue only until the businessmen are prepared to throw their money away.
But for those that love test cricket it is already working. Why? Because it's a platform for bribing back cricket to Pakistan.

That's about it.

Franchise cricket is not something i or many cricket lovers will watch, unless we have a couple of free hours and there is nothing else to watch on TV.

Cricket is dying

Cricket isnt dying, Cricket is transforming.

Cricket or any sport will only exist till there is money to be made. When there is no money to be made thats when the sport will die.

All other team sports have moved away from international sports to league system because there are huge number of players and new games could be played every other day with small breaks in between.

Test cricket only caters to a small niche. No one watches 90 overs each of the 5 days. People only watch few sessions and probably the last session of play on day 5 and than claim Test cricket is the best.

Even if you want to make international cricket to be more valuable than you need a sporting culture to exists where you go to the ground as family to view sports. Pakistan never had that culture, while SENA does have that culture.

 

[Saj]

Some of the owners aren't really cricket people, they are more interested in their own publicity. I wonder just how seriously they take their ownership and how much they really want the brand they own to grow. I guess for some of them this is just a plaything to get their faces on tv and to get publicity for themselves and other segments of their business.

 

[ElRaja]

Some of the owners aren't really cricket people, they are more interested in their own publicity. I wonder just how seriously they take their ownership and how much they really want the brand they own to grow. I guess for some of them this is just a plaything to get their faces on tv and to get publicity for themselves and other segments of their business.

good business people can develop and sell any product, the problem as I've mentioned in other threads is the lack of corporatism in Pakistan, there's simply a skill and vision vacuum to manage such business on a global level. the thought process is still stiflingly local.

theoretically, if there was enough incentive, western sport management businesses would salivate over the prospect of running a league for 220 million people, where there is no other sport that can compete. as with most things in Pakistan, the real potential is lost in small scale short term thinking.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Sports marketing is slightly different to other forms of marketing. Some posters seem to be obsessed with songs and posters, but these things come second to the actual product itself.

The PSL while workable has some major flaws that cannot be solved overnight with some songs and dances.

Firstly, unlike other cricketing countries Pakistan has never had a stable domestic first class structure that has allowed fans to understand what is like to actually support a team. We have a combination of cities, provincies, research laboratories and random banks. This has meant that our cricketing fanbase has never been a fan of a team for an extended period of time, but usually just watch out for individual players ( and become fans of individual players) who play for an assortment of sides across their career.

This issue is further compounded by the fact that to the Pakistanis that I have encountered don't really consider Lahore Qalandars to be a Lahori side or Quetta Gladiators to be a Quetta side because they really have local players. In a country not used to supporting team sports in general the whole concept of franchises is alien because their is nothing tying them to the actual city they are representing. The league where we had Sialkot Stallions captained by a Sialkoti, Rawalpindi Rams captains by a pindi boi like Tanvir probably captures the attention of Pakistanis more. I think the PSL made a mistake by not reseructing some of these sides...particularly Sialkot and Faisalabad. We would have had some pre-prepared history and rivalries...i.e Sialkot are a continuation of the most successful T20 team and Faisalabad are a continuation of the side that won the inaugural T20 champions league. Instead we have franchises for cricketing backwaters like Quetta and Multan. We are a flipping tribal and divided country....Why the hell would anyone from these regions care about a team captained by someone from Karachi or KP?

In addition, if we agree that Pakistanis are more likely to support individuals rather than teams, then why do we dilute our viewers experience by allowing players to play every available league. Our viewers will not have the same interest in seeing players play the PSL if they have watched them play LPL, County, BBL, Kashmir Premier League etc. The final nail in the coffin of the standards of PSL is the fact that 3 of our big name players are playing in a tournament for retirees!!!

PSL should have a select group of 10-15 players who are on super contracts that prevent them from playing elsewhere.

Finally, the quality and quantity of overseas players to be addressed urgently. Most of the no hopers in the PSL are not marketable no matter what you do. There needs to be a focus on building long term relationships with overseas players and a major part of that is ensuring that the PSL takes place at the same time every year.

Only once these problems have been solved can the actual product become more marketable.

 

[Major]

Sports marketing is slightly different to other forms of marketing. Some posters seem to be obsessed with songs and posters, but these things come second to the actual product itself.

The PSL while workable has some major flaws that cannot be solved overnight with some songs and dances.

Firstly, unlike other cricketing countries Pakistan has never had a stable domestic first class structure that has allowed fans to understand what is like to actually support a team. We have a combination of cities, provincies, research laboratories and random banks. This has meant that our cricketing fanbase has never been a fan of a team for an extended period of time, but usually just watch out for individual players ( and become fans of individual players) who play for an assortment of sides across their career.

This issue is further compounded by the fact that to the Pakistanis that I have encountered don't really consider Lahore Qalandars to be a Lahori side or Quetta Gladiators to be a Quetta side because they really have local players. In a country not used to supporting team sports in general the whole concept of franchises is alien because their is nothing tying them to the actual city they are representing. The league where we had Sialkot Stallions captained by a Sialkoti, Rawalpindi Rams captains by a pindi boi like Tanvir probably captures the attention of Pakistanis more. I think the PSL made a mistake by not reseructing some of these sides...particularly Sialkot and Faisalabad. We would have had some pre-prepared history and rivalries...i.e Sialkot are a continuation of the most successful T20 team and Faisalabad are a continuation of the side that won the inaugural T20 champions league. Instead we have franchises for cricketing backwaters like Quetta and Multan. We are a flipping tribal and divided country....Why the hell would anyone from these regions care about a team captained by someone from Karachi or KP?

In addition, if we agree that Pakistanis are more likely to support individuals rather than teams, then why do we dilute our viewers experience by allowing players to play every available league. Our viewers will not have the same interest in seeing players play the PSL if they have watched them play LPL, County, BBL, Kashmir Premier League etc. The final nail in the coffin of the standards of PSL is the fact that 3 of our big name players are playing in a tournament for retirees!!!

PSL should have a select group of 10-15 players who are on super contracts that prevent them from playing elsewhere.

Finally, the quality and quantity of overseas players to be addressed urgently. Most of the no hopers in the PSL are not marketable no matter what you do. There needs to be a focus on building long term relationships with overseas players and a major part of that is ensuring that the PSL takes place at the same time every year.

Only once these problems have been solved can the actual product become more marketable.

i think you got me wrong.

Songs etc are have to be used keep in mind the subcontinent culture. Here team anthems and songs matter alot and its part of the culture to beat along those jingles. The anthem that is realeased each year plays a huge part which is why some franchises make their own team anthems.

Posters in the shape of banners are displayed in the cities. Islamabad United barely had any billboards in Pindi/Isb last time around.

These are just few examples.

The above you mentioned about Faysel bank t20, fans did not care about that tournament. For them it was just cricket nothing else.

Fans dont care about a lahore playing for Karachi, or a punjabi playing for Peshawar. If you do your branding right than there are other things to enjoy.

Look at Peshawar Zalmi, after Afridi left, they got a West Indies guy to become the face of the franchise. Darren Sammy was loved by everyone in Pakistan and was given honorary citizenship as part of a marketing gimmick.

You dont need players of the same region play in the same region. Pakistani people dont care about that stuff. If that mattered, than Zalmi who have done well to maintain their brand image would had not been the most valued team of PSL. Or even Karachi aswell who has a lahori, Pindi and a Islamabadi player as their main face.

 

[ElRaja]

Sports marketing is slightly different to other forms of marketing. Some posters seem to be obsessed with songs and posters, but these things come second to the actual product itself.

The PSL while workable has some major flaws that cannot be solved overnight with some songs and dances.

Firstly, unlike other cricketing countries Pakistan has never had a stable domestic first class structure that has allowed fans to understand what is like to actually support a team. We have a combination of cities, provincies, research laboratories and random banks. This has meant that our cricketing fanbase has never been a fan of a team for an extended period of time, but usually just watch out for individual players ( and become fans of individual players) who play for an assortment of sides across their career.

This issue is further compounded by the fact that to the Pakistanis that I have encountered don't really consider Lahore Qalandars to be a Lahori side or Quetta Gladiators to be a Quetta side because they really have local players. In a country not used to supporting team sports in general the whole concept of franchises is alien because their is nothing tying them to the actual city they are representing. The league where we had Sialkot Stallions captained by a Sialkoti, Rawalpindi Rams captains by a pindi boi like Tanvir probably captures the attention of Pakistanis more. I think the PSL made a mistake by not reseructing some of these sides...particularly Sialkot and Faisalabad. We would have had some pre-prepared history and rivalries...i.e Sialkot are a continuation of the most successful T20 team and Faisalabad are a continuation of the side that won the inaugural T20 champions league. Instead we have franchises for cricketing backwaters like Quetta and Multan. We are a flipping tribal and divided country....Why the hell would anyone from these regions care about a team captained by someone from Karachi or KP?

In addition, if we agree that Pakistanis are more likely to support individuals rather than teams, then why do we dilute our viewers experience by allowing players to play every available league. Our viewers will not have the same interest in seeing players play the PSL if they have watched them play LPL, County, BBL, Kashmir Premier League etc. The final nail in the coffin of the standards of PSL is the fact that 3 of our big name players are playing in a tournament for retirees!!!

PSL should have a select group of 10-15 players who are on super contracts that prevent them from playing elsewhere.

Finally, the quality and quantity of overseas players to be addressed urgently. Most of the no hopers in the PSL are not marketable no matter what you do. There needs to be a focus on building long term relationships with overseas players and a major part of that is ensuring that the PSL takes place at the same time every year.

Only once these problems have been solved can the actual product become more marketable.

you need money to tie cricketers into exclusivity, but you can't do that unless the product is a much higher standard, and you can't do that until you have the money.

as I said in my earlier post u need to encourage franchises to develop some connection to local teams, there ready made in terms of geographies, and even if the marquee players arent local, the second tier players should be.

for me it makes a difference, I actually care how northern perform in domestics, and Rawalpindi rams before them did in the old t20s, knowing that the team had players my cousins grew up playing with meant something.

there is no way pak can tie any players to the psl, the players would walk out on the psl. you are talking a minimum $500,000 to tie a player decent player to a franchise, the teams can in no way afford spending $1 mill on two players.

what u say is correct in identifying a lot of the problems, but there are no practical solutions given the psl is ostensibly even behind the bpl when it comes to economic strength.

a cheaper solution would be a mini "emerging" psl, with no overseas players, and restriction to have 4 or 5 players from the region the franchise is tied in with. it would be cheap, it could replace the domestic regional t20, and keep the franchises in action in the "off-season".

otherwise stakeholders could revive a mini champs league with the top two franchises from the lpl, psl and bpl playing a tournament in autumn, however it pains me to even write that given how much meaningly t20 cricket is going around.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

They are already a brand. The brand is Pakistan cricket, similar to how Brazil came to stand for international football benchmarks.

 

[Savak]

you need money to tie cricketers into exclusivity, but you can't do that unless the product is a much higher standard, and you can't do that until you have the money.

as I said in my earlier post u need to encourage franchises to develop some connection to local teams, there ready made in terms of geographies, and even if the marquee players arent local, the second tier players should be.

for me it makes a difference, I actually care how northern perform in domestics, and Rawalpindi rams before them did in the old t20s, knowing that the team had players my cousins grew up playing with meant something.

there is no way pak can tie any players to the psl, the players would walk out on the psl. you are talking a minimum $500,000 to tie a player decent player to a franchise, the teams can in no way afford spending $1 mill on two players.

what u say is correct in identifying a lot of the problems, but there are no practical solutions given the psl is ostensibly even behind the bpl when it comes to economic strength.

a cheaper solution would be a mini "emerging" psl, with no overseas players, and restriction to have 4 or 5 players from the region the franchise is tied in with. it would be cheap, it could replace the domestic regional t20, and keep the franchises in action in the "off-season".

otherwise stakeholders could revive a mini champs league with the top two franchises from the lpl, psl and bpl playing a tournament in autumn, however it pains me to even write that given how much meaningly t20 cricket is going around.

I would like some evidence to see if psl is behind the BPL in economic strength. I don't believe that is true

 

[DeadlyVenom]

i think you got me wrong.

Songs etc are have to be used keep in mind the subcontinent culture. Here team anthems and songs matter alot and its part of the culture to beat along those jingles. The anthem that is realeased each year plays a huge part which is why some franchises make their own team anthems.

Posters in the shape of banners are displayed in the cities. Islamabad United barely had any billboards in Pindi/Isb last time around.

These are just few examples.

The above you mentioned about Faysel bank t20, fans did not care about that tournament. For them it was just cricket nothing else.

Fans dont care about a lahore playing for Karachi, or a punjabi playing for Peshawar. If you do your branding right than there are other things to enjoy.

Look at Peshawar Zalmi, after Afridi left, they got a West Indies guy to become the face of the franchise. Darren Sammy was loved by everyone in Pakistan and was given honorary citizenship as part of a marketing gimmick.

You dont need players of the same region play in the same region. Pakistani people dont care about that stuff. If that mattered, than Zalmi who have done well to maintain their brand image would had not been the most valued team of PSL. Or even Karachi aswell who has a lahori, Pindi and a Islamabadi player as their main face.

Why would a guy in Quetta sing a song about a Gladiators team that he isn't ever going to see live because they will never actually play in Quetta and also has nobody from his region? There needs to be a solid foundation to build and market from in the first place. They could call the team Kuala Lumpur Gladiators for all the average fan in Quetta cares.

Peshawar Zalmi had a strong Pashtun identity in the original season due to the combination of Shahid Afridi and Javed Afridi being very visible. They also had a solid core of KP players in the inaugural season and the name itself was unique. Even the stuff you mention about Samy was a clever marketing ploy by Afridi. Plenty of memes were floating around calling him Darren Sammy Khan, videos of him dancing to pashto songs, wearing traditional pathan headdress etc. To me, it seems clear that their identity is formed around Pashtun culture.

With regards to FB T20 - I wasn;t saying FB T20 was the goal here but that they had some good foundations to build on and some history that could be marketed.

I firmly do believe that fans will care about local players playing for their local teams. Thats exactly how relationships and bonds between supporters develop. Branding in sports is nothing without this. If the fans don't care about this then why have a city based franchise contest in the first place.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

you need money to tie cricketers into exclusivity, but you can't do that unless the product is a much higher standard, and you can't do that until you have the money.

as I said in my earlier post u need to encourage franchises to develop some connection to local teams, there ready made in terms of geographies, and even if the marquee players arent local, the second tier players should be.

for me it makes a difference, I actually care how northern perform in domestics, and Rawalpindi rams before them did in the old t20s, knowing that the team had players my cousins grew up playing with meant something.

there is no way pak can tie any players to the psl, the players would walk out on the psl. you are talking a minimum $500,000 to tie a player decent player to a franchise, the teams can in no way afford spending $1 mill on two players.

what u say is correct in identifying a lot of the problems, but there are no practical solutions given the psl is ostensibly even behind the bpl when it comes to economic strength.

a cheaper solution would be a mini "emerging" psl, with no overseas players, and restriction to have 4 or 5 players from the region the franchise is tied in with. it would be cheap, it could replace the domestic regional t20, and keep the franchises in action in the "off-season".

otherwise stakeholders could revive a mini champs league with the top two franchises from the lpl, psl and bpl playing a tournament in autumn, however it pains me to even write that given how much meaningly t20 cricket is going around.

The regional T20 further dilutes the quality of the PSL again because it's the same dudes playing in other colours and shirts that play in the PSL.

With regards to tying players down - surely they could give players such as Babar, Rizwan, Shadab some extra compensation or the PCB could ensure that they are not given NOC's so that the PSL is the focus. Even if 10-15 is too much then 6 main Pakistani talents say for instance Babar, Rizwan, Shadab, Haris, Shaheen, Fakhar Zaman should be given healthy contracts and made showpiece players for the PSL.

I like the idea of a mini PSL and the mini champs league but it's probably not feasible.

 

[ElRaja]

I would like some evidence to see if psl is behind the BPL in economic strength. I don't believe that is true

according to bcb the 2016/17 season of the bpl generated $50 mill in revenue, and according to the pcbs 2020 financials the psl that year generated $25 million in revenue

now the money pak will generate will be lower because they are tied into cheaper franchise fees given the more stable ownership history, but even still, it appears for the boards at least the bpl is a bigger money spinner, unless bcb reporting dodgy figures

 

[ElRaja]

The regional T20 further dilutes the quality of the PSL again because it's the same dudes playing in other colours and shirts that play in the PSL.

With regards to tying players down - surely they could give players such as Babar, Rizwan, Shadab some extra compensation or the PCB could ensure that they are not given NOC's so that the PSL is the focus. Even if 10-15 is too much then 6 main Pakistani talents say for instance Babar, Rizwan, Shadab, Haris, Shaheen, Fakhar Zaman should be given healthy contracts and made showpiece players for the PSL.

I like the idea of a mini PSL and the mini champs league but it's probably not feasible.

again the issue is that the franchises have to pay for these players, they clearly arent good at making money as it is, unless the PCB further subsidises the franchisees, which IMO will set a very bad precedent.

just need to hope that the next cycle of franchise auctions go for considerably more money, then maybe that might be doable.

convert the draft to an auction and insert exclusivity bonuses if they want to.

 

[Savak]

according to bcb the 2016/17 season of the bpl generated $50 mill in revenue, and according to the pcbs 2020 financials the psl that year generated $25 million in revenue

now the money pak will generate will be lower because they are tied into cheaper franchise fees given the more stable ownership history, but even still, it appears for the boards at least the bpl is a bigger money spinner, unless bcb reporting dodgy figures

BCB sold worldwide rights for Bangladesh Cricket till April 2020 for 4-5 years for $20 million dollars. BPL has faced payment issues which were well documented by FICA as well. If the BPL was earning $50 million, they could afford to pay elite wages to attract the elite players of the world

 

[Savak]

The regional T20 further dilutes the quality of the PSL again because it's the same dudes playing in other colours and shirts that play in the PSL.

With regards to tying players down - surely they could give players such as Babar, Rizwan, Shadab some extra compensation or the PCB could ensure that they are not given NOC's so that the PSL is the focus. Even if 10-15 is too much then 6 main Pakistani talents say for instance Babar, Rizwan, Shadab, Haris, Shaheen, Fakhar Zaman should be given healthy contracts and made showpiece players for the PSL.

I like the idea of a mini PSL and the mini champs league but it's probably not feasible.

India has a domestic Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, it has not diluted the IPL. Also the IPL foreign players play in the leagues worldwide. It hasnt diluted the IPL.

By scrapping the domestic T20 league or preventing the main senior players from playing in domestic cricket, you reduce the quality of domestic cricket. The PCB got a higher broadcasting deal this season inspite of the domestic T20 league and the kashmir premier league

 

[Savak]

Too many posters have an inferiority complex vis a vis the PSL because of the comparisons with IPL.

Natwest T20 leagues, Big Bash do not devalue themselves because of the IPL.

The PCB has to look to compete with the other leagues minus the IPL

 

[U$ofA]

Too many posters have an inferiority complex vis a vis the PSL because of the comparisons with IPL.

Natwest T20 leagues, Big Bash do not devalue themselves because of the IPL.

The PCB has to look to compete with the other leagues minus the IPL

None of the T20 leagues do not need to compete with any other T20 league. Their target audience are different and exclusive to each of them.

 

[Savak]

Bcb sold their 2021-23 for $20 million.

They could not have gotten a higher value for the BPL. Someone explain again how is the BPL doing better than the PSL?

 

[DeadlyVenom]

India has a domestic Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, it has not diluted the IPL. Also the IPL foreign players play in the leagues worldwide. It hasnt diluted the IPL.

By scrapping the domestic T20 league or preventing the main senior players from playing in domestic cricket, you reduce the quality of domestic cricket. The PCB got a higher broadcasting deal this season inspite of the domestic T20 league and the kashmir premier league

Does Kohli, Dhoni, Rohit Sharma or other big name Indian players, play as much rag tag T20 players as our guys? Im not sure they play the SM trophy but happy to be corrected.

Do players active in IPL play retired cricket tournaments in Oman?

If the PCB getting a higher broadcasting deal is such a great success then why are you making so many threads on what the franchises need to do better.

You should be happy that they are making some minor progress if this is the benchmark.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Too many posters have an inferiority complex vis a vis the PSL because of the comparisons with IPL.

Natwest T20 leagues, Big Bash do not devalue themselves because of the IPL.

The PCB has to look to compete with the other leagues minus the IPL

You need to be consistent. Do you want PSL to help make Pakistan an economic force in cricket and for franchises to try harder, or do you want it to be a low tier league.

For example, the BBL is played at the same time as the Ashes without the Aussie star players and without big name international stars.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Their hands are tied. As I have been told Pakistanis have lot of money but it is not under any tax umbrella/bracket and it is mostly cash based economy. So, it is difficult for any potential foreign investor to gauge what his ROI will be when investing as how is he supposed to get any spending data. Makes is very difficult to research the market and invest.

 

[cricketjoshila]

Bcb sold their 2021-23 for $20 million.

They could not have gotten a higher value for the BPL. Someone explain again how is the BPL doing better than the PSL?

Has the PCB declared the exact amount it sold its PSL broadcast rights? All i hear is X per cent more Y per cent Higher.

Why this hide and seek?

Whats the problem with transparency? May be because the numbers dont look very flattering?

BCCI tv rights figures are announced and open to media. ECB or CA too have declared the value of their rights.

BCB rights don't include BPL. Its for international cricket i guess.

 

[Saj]

Why would a guy in Quetta sing a song about a Gladiators team that he isn't ever going to see live because they will never actually play in Quetta and also has nobody from his region? There needs to be a solid foundation to build and market from in the first place. They could call the team Kuala Lumpur Gladiators for all the average fan in Quetta cares.

Valid point.

For all the back slapping and self appreciation, the PSL will only truly be a league appreciated by most of Pakistan when home/away matches are played in the 6 competing cities.

 

[Greenstorm]

PSL is doing fine. Those living in Pakistan, and I mean not in posh housing societies but actually with masses, understand the traction PSL generates.

Qalandars, Zalmi and KK in particular have built a solid fanbase that doesn't care much about big foreign names. For instance, Ben Dunk in previous seasons has amassed a large following among LQ fans. In PSL, he is a bigger name than Chris Gayle !

Imo, PSL is doing its job of providing quality entertainment to fans and exposure to young local players. Yes certain franchises can improve their branding. Improvements are also required in overall DTH/subscription based broadcasting structure of Pakistan but that's beyond franchises and PCB.

Average Pakistani is not stressed about which player is getting how much millions in IPL, BBL, CPL, BPL etc. He/She just needs good quality cricket, catchy songs, funny memes and he gets all that during PSL.

 

[Major]

Too many posters have an inferiority complex vis a vis the PSL because of the comparisons with IPL.

Natwest T20 leagues, Big Bash do not devalue themselves because of the IPL.

The PCB has to look to compete with the other leagues minus the IPL

Its not inferiority complex, its a comparison of branding with another country from the same region..

Comparing with australia and england would had been different because they have a sports culture. The indiannsports culture was just like ours until they decided to shift and evolve.

You always do comparison within ur regions

 

[Major]

Has the PCB declared the exact amount it sold its PSL broadcast rights? All i hear is X per cent more Y per cent Higher.

Why this hide and seek?

Whats the problem with transparency? May be because the numbers dont look very flattering?

BCCI tv rights figures are announced and open to media. ECB or CA too have declared the value of their rights.

BCB rights don't include BPL. Its for international cricket i guess.

BEcause in pakistan rights are being sold to govt channel called ptv which is probably for peanuts

 

[Pakpak]

Valid point.

For all the back slapping and self appreciation, the PSL will only truly be a league appreciated by most of Pakistan when home/away matches are played in the 6 competing cities.

Spot on. Playing most of the league in two cities is a bit pointless. And overkill for those fans in two cities. There needs to be a proper home and away system. Not sure when or if the PCB will realise it

 

[ElRaja]

Spot on. Playing most of the league in two cities is a bit pointless. And overkill for those fans in two cities. There needs to be a proper home and away system. Not sure when or if the PCB will realise it

considering even domestic regionals are limited to local venues, not anytime soon. think managing the covid bubble across 6 cities would be too difficult for PCB.

once covid is gone I'm pretty sure they will revert to a home and away model, altho I cant remember the last time any game of international consequence was played in balochistan.

 

[Saj]

Spot on. Playing most of the league in two cities is a bit pointless. And overkill for those fans in two cities. There needs to be a proper home and away system. Not sure when or if the PCB will realise it

At the moment due to Covid laying in 2 cities is acceptable, but the reality is teams need to playing all their home matches in their own city.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Sorry but there is zero chance for these franchise cricket clubs to become a brand. There is no loyalty from fans or players in these leagues. Same fans support multiple teams and same players play for 4-5 different clubs. How can they become a brand lol. There is no such thing as being exclusive. Also playing your league in other countries makes it look like a circus.

 

[Major]

At the moment due to Covid laying in 2 cities is acceptable, but the reality is teams need to playing all their home matches in their own city.

I think playing matches in multiple cities simultaneously even without covid is not gonna be possible in newr future.

TTP is slowly emerging again, and as talks by the govt have ended up as a failiure security concerns are again rising.

The security arrangement that get done are top notch. When i went to the psl matches in pindi i was checked 3-4 times and even our phones were being checked to make a call and any other devices like powerbanks were confiscated.

But this new ttp threat can be abit problematic. 11 small scale ttp events have taken place in isb/pindi in the last 2 years.

Quetta cant have matches for the next 10 years atleast.. stuff will continue to brew there due to cpec and sleeper agents against it.

If the army can start taking action against ttp than maybe just maybe we can have home and away matchs from 4-5 years from now

 

[Savak]

The PCB and the Pakistani govt needs to urgently upgrade the other stadiums in the country to international standards and to build 5 star hotels, guest houses near these hotels to make the home and away concept a reality down the line.

The absence of international cricket in the country for a decade meant we neglected our cricketing infrastructure big time

 

[Greenstorm]

The PCB and the Pakistani govt needs to urgently upgrade the other stadiums in the country to international standards and to build 5 star hotels, guest houses near these hotels to make the home and away concept a reality down the line.

The absence of international cricket in the country for a decade meant we neglected our cricketing infrastructure big time

Peshawar stadium will be ready by next year. Faisalabad can be used as adopted home by QG. Covid permitting, PSL on home and away basis can become a reality sooner than we think.

 

[zoeyfactor]

PSL needs to define a strategy and roadmap, aligning to the initial objectives and expectations, to take a step back to evaluate where they have missed and how they should pivot from here. Of course IPL or BBL is a good reference for checkpoint but they need to have their own unique measures of success and that can only happen if they acquire an internal brand strategist who comes up with a clear plan of action. (This is what I do for living for F500 hence can easily talk for hours on this topic).

 

[Savak]

PSL needs to define a strategy and roadmap, aligning to the initial objectives and expectations, to take a step back to evaluate where they have missed and how they should pivot from here. Of course IPL or BBL is a good reference for checkpoint but they need to have their own unique measures of success and that can only happen if they acquire an internal brand strategist who comes up with a clear plan of action. (This is what I do for living for F500 hence can easily talk for hours on this topic).

Most of the franchises are very content with what they have achieved and don't want to do anything more for their franchises and one of them even told a reporter we have already penetrated the Pakistani market and that there is nothing more they can extract from the Pakistani market.

This is why I am against the PCB handing over the franchises in perpetuity, the PCB should have the right and authority to search for new franchise owners with deep pockets and more hunger to develop their franchises in the future.

 

[zoeyfactor]

PCB should enable and establish strict governance for these franchises because it's important to keep the brand assurance and the quality for the International market which PCB has failed to do is. To clearly outline the messaging, purpose and objectives, and to have that clearly communicated to the active franchises rather than give up to their needs and demands which has been happening due to the Pakistani culture. If they want to really become an international "brand", they need to come down hard from their own strategic guardrails. I wish I was able to reach these guys directly and define a playbook for them.

 

[Major]

PSL needs to define a strategy and roadmap, aligning to the initial objectives and expectations, to take a step back to evaluate where they have missed and how they should pivot from here. Of course IPL or BBL is a good reference for checkpoint but they need to have their own unique measures of success and that can only happen if they acquire an internal brand strategist who comes up with a clear plan of action. (This is what I do for living for F500 hence can easily talk for hours on this topic).

finally someone who knows about marketing and branding.

Do you think that the branding failiure of the franchise is a blame on PSL management or the franchise owners themselves?

Should sports marketing experts from North America be invited or do you think they wont be able to understand the culture thus someone from India or Australia who has worked on the branding of some Cricket team franchise could help us out better?

 

[ElRaja]

PSL needs to define a strategy and roadmap, aligning to the initial objectives and expectations, to take a step back to evaluate where they have missed and how they should pivot from here. Of course IPL or BBL is a good reference for checkpoint but they need to have their own unique measures of success and that can only happen if they acquire an internal brand strategist who comes up with a clear plan of action. (This is what I do for living for F500 hence can easily talk for hours on this topic).

how can the psl have a strategic roadman when the entire governance team and structure will change if the political party in power changes. until the PCB becomes an independent organisation we cant expect long term strategic goals.

 

[zoeyfactor]

It's a combination of both. Both entities are vested parties in the PSL structure and they need to collectively run a steering committee. Just like a "program" with continuous improvement, continuous development framework. If one party is failing to deliver or adhere to framework, you put them on probabation with directions. If they still don't improve then you change them out.

Absolutely, sports marketing should be brought from USA. We have perfected the models here (NBA, NFL, MLB). That's what IPL did and look where they are. You don't need cricket knowledge on this as this is purely Marketing and Sales subject matter expertise.

 

[zoeyfactor]

Agreed. PSL is required to be independent, private held entity with no political influence. That's what ICC demands too.