[VIDEO] "Launching a franchise league is only 10% of the work. Building the league is the other 90%": S. Sarwar Butt - Former PSL Managing Director

[MenInG]

Salman Sarwar Butt was the founding names for PSL so his views are interesting as in this interview excerpt.

Launching a franchise league is only 10% of the work. Building the league is 90%, in my view.

Now, this is a franchise league. It's not an event. But if we look at PSL today, I know we love it and we look forward to it and all of that, but I look at it with different lenses, if I may, of course.

By the time we had progressed to PSL 9, I would have wished that each franchise had ten to 15 different product lines.

I wish that the sort of money that the franchises raised in sponsorship would be much higher.

I wish their brands were alive throughout the year and not for three months.

I wish, that if you came into the Karachi airport, you would see images of Karachi Kings, you went to Lahore, you would see similar for Lahore Qalandars.

I'll give you a small example. Manchester United is also part of a franchise league, obviously a European premier club. So, Manchester United, they raise money through broadcasting. Obviously, they get a share of broadcasting. They get money from their team, sponsorship, gate money, and then they get money from what they call franchising, licensing, merchandise etc. There are 250 different products and services that they presently have.

So, I think the initial responsibility for this has to be taken by the regulator, which is the PCB.

So, I am the PCB. For example, I bring in the idea, I launch the product.

For example, if I am 'McDonalds, then I launch McDonalds as a brand. I bring it to you. You are a franchisee. I sell McDonald's to you. I train you. I tell you how to brand, I tell you how to market, I tell you how to grow the business. I do it as corporate McDonalds.

You (as a franchise) keep looking at me to ask me what to do. I need to train your people and I hold your hand till you are a flourishing business.

I am PCB, I bring in this product, I bring in this concept, you buy a franchise.

Now it's my job as PCB to be able to bring the intellectual capital, to bring all the various ideas around the
various avenues, how you need to construct your team, what sort of expertise you need to have.

All this is my job as PCB to tell you (the franchise).

 

[FearlessRoar]

PSL is on the decline,other leagues are paying higher match fees than PSL, and even WPL matches have more crowd attendance than PSL matches.

 

[MenInG]

PSL is on the decline,other leagues are paying higher match fees than PSL, and even WPL matches have more crowd attendance than PSL matches.

Sarwar Butt saying that PCB have missed the boat and we are in our 9th season.

Reeks of bad planning and short-term thinking.

 

[Savak]

Sarwar Butt saying that PCB have missed the boat and we are in our 9th season.

Reeks of bad planning and short-term thinking.

Tbh some of the Franchise owners are very happy with the status quo, they are hesitant to build their franchises and don't wish to pour money out of fear that they will have to pay the PCB a significantly higher price for the Franchises from 2025 onwards.

I am strictly against the PCB giving them perpetual rights, there has to be competition for Franchise owners. Quetta and Karachi have been the most poorly led Franchises, let's see if other parties in the market have grand plans to develop the franchise

 

[MenInG]

Tbh some of the Franchise owners are very happy with the status quo, they are hesitant to build their franchises and don't wish to pour money out of fear that they will have to pay the PCB a significantly higher price for the Franchises from 2025 onwards.

I am strictly against the PCB giving them perpetual rights, there has to be competition for Franchise owners. Quetta and Karachi have been the most poorly led Franchises, let's see if other parties in the market have grand plans to develop the franchise

As Sarwar is saying, PCB has not done enough to educate these guys.

 

[ElRaja]

losing brand value before the franchises come up for renewal is PCB in a nutshell, anyone who invests time, money or effort into any pcb product is a fool.

 

[CleverSir]

As Sarwar is saying, PCB has not done enough to educate these guys.

They’re not idiots. These are business giants. They know what needs to be done. They just don’t do it. However, it seems Multan and Islamabad are starting to pour some money into their franchises.lets hope the others follow suit.

 

[Major]

love the interview and this is what exactly i said many times around here. You land in Indira Gandhi international you start seeing Delhi Daredeveils/Capitals posters. Thats how branding works all year round.

 

[hassan918]

Too many PCB chairmans in the last few years is one of the reasons why PSL isn't becoming a more successful league.

 

[Savak]

Make PSL a seperate entity. Heck have it listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange and encourage investors to invest in it. Have professionals appoint a board where a professional CEO is hired and make the CEO accountable for the league. PSL should be unaffected by changes in the PCB.

 

[offstump]

Not sure what the PCB can educate the franchises on they do a terrible job themselves when it comes to marketing.. in some ways the franchises are further ahead

 

[Savak]

Would love Malik Riaz to own a PSL franchise, i hope he can outbid Salman Iqbal for Karachi Kings Franchise. He will surely manage the franchise is a better, more lucrative and fan engaging way.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

So, how would you build the league? Obviously by attracting better sponsors and including more franchises but hatts off to the management they went for KFC as their sponsor despite knowing that the whole country is boycotting them. Now look where ur league is standing now!

 

[Savak]

I enjoyed this podcast and discussion b/w Dr Nauman, Rashid Latif and Salman Sarwar Butt. Watch from 18:00 onwards on their tips and suggestions to both the PCB and the Franchises on how to move the PSL forward

I will summarize their discussions below

1) Both the PCB and the PSL Franchises need to stop treating the PSL as an event to hold for the sake of it and actually treat it like a proper professional franchise league i.e. just hold the draft at this date, book the event in a certain time period and get it over with. They need to both have a combined vision for the league which should complement each other

- Both the PCB and the PSL Franchises need to identify their target market inside Pakistan i.e. cricket loving local population and Outside Pakistan i.e. cricket loving Pakistani expatriate population, foreigners and keep thinking of ways on how to tap into them.

- Both the PCB and the PSL Franchises need to think in terms off the audience is watching a 4 hour movie, how do we make the 4 hour movie a memorable experience from an entertainment, fan engagement, stadium quality point of view where they will keep wanting to come back for more

2) Seperate the PSL affairs, management from the PCB so that changes in the PCB management have no impact on the PSL ownership. My recommendation is to see if the PSL can be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange where the PCB can be the majority shareholders but can invite investment from the general public, this can be a good source for the PSL to attract, generate capital, finances and to generate fully audited financial statements for the general public. A PSL BOD od Directors, CEO can be appointed by the Shareholders to run the affairs of the PSL professionally and independently from the PCB

3) Once the 10th season is over and the contract with the existing franchises is over, there is a need to massively overhaul the contracts b/w the PCB and the Franchises and to improve, professionalize it. Both the PCB and the PSL Franchises should work in partnership, co-operation and the PCB should step in to help the franchises as much as possible and help them with the cricketing side of things to the maximum extent. The PCB should definately give away the existing PSL franchises to the existing owners in Perpetuity provided they meet certain conditions and standards. Perpetuity doesn't mean they now own the Franchise forever and they can do whatever they want with the Franchise without any accountability or questions asked. Mcdonald's for e.g. gives away rights to a Franchise to a Franchisee but if the Franchisee doesn't meet standards or doesn't deliver then Mcdonalds reserves the right to take back the Franchise rights. Franchises need to be educated and encouraged to do away from their rent seeking behavior i.e. i have paid this much in the franchise fee for the year, how much return am i getting this year? They need to be encouraged to treat their franchise as a proper business and cricket development venture as oppossed to treating it as a side kick, part time hobby to their other main business activities. The EPL Franchises in England or NBA Franchises in the US don't shut up shop once the English Football season or the North American Basketball season is over, they operate 24/7/365.

- The PCB is now facing very stiff competition from SA T20, ILT20, Big Bash, BPL, Hundred, CPL, American T20 League let alone IPL. PSL in terms of remuneration is at number 6 which is not good enough and this is now having an impact on the quality of players coming to the PSL and the fact that the PSL is being held before the IPL further diminishes the chances to attract top tier quality players who prefer to rest, rejuvenate for their $1-2 million IPL contracts. Salman Sarwar is suggesting the following measures

1) Both the PCB and the PSL Franchises have to co-operate and work in partnership as far as the Salary Caps, remunerations are concerned, if a PSL franchise is contributing $1 million to the salaries of the players, officials, the PCB should bite the bullet and loan an additional $1-$1.5 to the Franchise in the short term to boost the chances of attracting top tier foreign talent

2) There has to be standards as far as foreign players are concerned as well, having foreign players who are working as coaches, assistants in other leagues will only dilute the PSL.

3) Have a diverse strategy i.e. consider auction/direct signings for foreign players, top Pakistani players, pay the foreign players in USD and the Pakistani players in PKR and only have a draft for the local Pakistani players.

- The Franchises have to provide an annual business plan, management plan i.e. the management you hire has to be professional, qualified, revenue generation plan i.e. you need to earn a minimum amount of revenues every year, cricket development plans i.e. you have to put aside a certain amount of money for academies, talent hunt programs through your city/region throughout the year, scouting to the PSL authorities annually and there has to be a monitoring committee which ensures all the conditions are being met and it these conditions are not met then the PSL authorities should warn the franchises that the PSL authority reserves the right to strip away the ownership rights.

The PCB as the regulator should educate the Franchises in this regard in terms of how to make the most of their commercial partnerships for e.g. if Islamabad United strikes a commercial partnership with Tim Hortons or Food Panda, IU should be encouraged to go all out to recruit fans to sign up as members with them i.e. basic members, gold members, platinum members e.t.c. and in exchange they will get good deals, discounts with Tim Hortons/Food Panda or a major airline and this way Tim Hortons/Food Panda as a reward will increase their investment, sponsorship with Islamabad United. Now imagine if IU strikes similar partnership with 10 other commercial enterprises in different sectors, think about the joint benefits that both IU and these commercial entities will enjoy. If IU goes to a commercial sponsor and demands $3 million for the year, they will have to justify their demands to the target sponsor i.e. we have a very active passionate fanbase who actively uses your products and will give you this much visibility, increased market share. Big commercial sponsors are not going to be interested in investing big amounts in a franchise if they see the Franchise shuts up shop for 10-11 months in the year and only becomes active during the PSL season. If a Franchise complains they can't afford to run their activities for the whole year, tell them that they have to be creative with their sponsors i.e. look sponsor my cricket academy, talent hunt programs for the whole year, this will give you increased visibility and publicity. Ask a Commercial partner, sponsor to fund an internal U-19, Emerging player, Women's team competition for that franchise televised and the commercial partner will benefit.

Similarly Karachi Kings should leverage the ARY platform or partner up with their commercial partners and hold a Karachi School or College Cricket competition. All these things are possible with out of the box thinking.

Alternatively, the franchises could hold charity games or welfare games where they raise funds for many different causes

- Franchises should be told to provide their Marketing/Branding strategies for the Franchise which will cater to the local audience and external audience every year to the PCB

- In terms of the Management and Professionals the Franchises hire for their affairs, they need to be educated that running cricketing operations, coaching, talent hunt programs is exclusively the domain of cricketers but they need to hire proper qualified, experienced professionals for the other roles i.e. CEO, COO, Head of Marketing/Branding, Finance/Accounting, Media e.t.c. The CEO of Kolkatta Knight Riders (KKR) is Venky Mysore and he is known as the Insurance Guru in both Asia and North America. He has appointed the best possible people in KKR for Marketing/Branding, Finance/Accounting, Media, Legal e.t.c and he always gives his business team a vision, target i.e. we need to take KKR's Commercial and Brand Value from X to Y by this time period. Similar level of professionalism and passion is needed for the management teams in the PSL Franchises. The problem with the PSL Franchise Owners is that they have a Seth mindset where they don't want to delegate power, authority to others, in fact some owners even interfere in the cricketing affairs i.e. the captain and coaches for which they are not qualified (Rashid Latif has apparently witnessed this many times while working with Karachi Kings). Their present approach is to just appoint one or two blue eyed people to run the entire franchise and thats it which is another reason why the franchises have stagnated and are not growing. Gautam Gambhir once narrated that when he took on the role at KKR, he had a very frank meeting with Shahrukh Khan which didn't last for more than 7 minutes where he told him to leave the cricketing affairs to him, i will not interfere in your showbiz, acting domain and you don't interfere in the cricketing side of things.

- There is a very high risk that the existing PSL Franchise owners are deliberately under investing their resources in the PSL out of fear that they will be forced to pay much higher fair market values once their rights are up if they wish to retain their franchise. This is also why they are hessitant to encourage more franchise teams and are even more hessitant to encourage foreign buyers for franchises because they know all these activities will increase the pressure on them to increase their resources, drive up the value of the franchises.

4) Every team should be assigned a home ground by the PCB i.e. National Bank Stadium/Rafi Stadium for Karachi Kings, Qadhaffi Stadium for Lahore Qalandars, Rawalpindi Stadium for Islamabad United, Multan Stadium for Multan Sultants, Arbab Niaz Stadium for Peshawar Zalmi, Bugti Stadium for Quetta Gladiators. Every team should get the right to earn 100% of the gate receipts, commercial sponsorships from their home grounds, this will serve as incentive to drive up their fan engagements and to increase their promotional, membership drives to push fans to watch the games in the stadiums

4) He doesn't agree with the complaints that the National T20 Domestic Cup, Sindh Premier League, Kashmir Premier League e.t.c. are cannibalizing the share of the PSL in the market. The PSL's quality, eye balls and vision are way superior to these leagues and in fact these leagues can serve as a feeder to the PSL. The Tamil Nadu Premier League or Karnataka T-20 League did not harm IPL in India.

 

[muqarrab]

PSL is a pind super league where owners still behave like Seths.