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Will crowds turn up for PSL X with the Pakistan team playing so poorly?

The only shock so far has been the Multan stadium. My expectation was that it would be full to the rafters but that hasn't happened at all. No one expected crowd to show up in NSK & it didn't but Multan not showing up is weird. Have no clue what's the reason for this, maybe stringent security, inflation impact, or just plain old bad marketing from PCB. Whatever the reason, this is not acceptable.
 
GoUgandaCranes said:
The only shock so far has been the Multan stadium. My expectation was that it would be full to the rafters but that hasn't happened at all. No one expected crowd to show up in NSK & it didn't but Multan not showing up is weird. Have no clue what's the reason for this, maybe stringent security, inflation impact, or just plain old bad marketing from PCB. Whatever the reason, this is not acceptable.
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PCB did not market the PSL very heavily this time. They have the attitude cricket is the only main sport in the country so it will sell itself. Also the poor performance by the Pakistani team and players has not helped matters either.
 
I don't remember PSL9 from last year (didn't follow it as seriously) but generally the crowds have been decent. This is not a good look for our cricket. A friend of mine bought her ticket for 30K to go to NSK when the league came back to Pak, now she's not even interested in watching it on the television.

I know we are all entering in the middle age phase of our lives with more responsibility weighing us down but this is a terrible thing because all our purchasing power is now moving away from cricket. Compare this to football & how people continue to spend more & more for their interest as their age progresses.
 
Mockingbird said:
With crowd response like this, why even bother with PSL?
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The myth that Pakistan is a cricket crazy country. Its not, too much off the same thing will bore our population eventually. The ABN Amro and the National T-20 crowds in the early 2000's used to be much bigger.
 
Sikander Raza is pleading the fans to come to stadium

www.instagram.com

Nukta Pakistan on Instagram: "Sikandar Raza made a heartfelt appeal to fans to show up at stadiums and back their teams during the HBL PSL.⁣ ⁣ Speaking to media after Lahore Qalandars’ defeat to Multan Sultans, the Zimbabwean player emphasized how mu

574 likes, 16 comments - nukta.pakistan on April 23, 2025: "Sikandar Raza made a heartfelt appeal to fans to show up at stadiums and back their teams during the HBL PSL.⁣ ⁣ Speaking to media after Lahore Qalandars’ defeat to Multan Sultans, the Zimbabwean player emphasized how much the presence...
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
 
Fans have been turning out for the following teams

1) Islamabad United
2) Lahore Qalandars
3) Peshawar Zalmi (Babar Azam Factor)

These teams have super star players and play an aggressive brand of cricket

Fans have been put off by

1) Karachi Kings
2) Quetta Gladiators

These two are the worst managed PSL Franchises and do absolutely zero for fan engagement, marketing

Multan Sultans performances have been poor this season hence why they are struggling to bring seats to the stadium this season.
 
I expect a great crowd today, so far it is just NSK vibes, Lahore Qalandars vs Islamabad United
Screenshot_20250430-200200.jpg
 
Crowd is not gonna turn in to watch the game due to the heat. It is way too hot in Lahore atm and having a day game will face such problems.
 
BouncerGuy said:
Crowd is not gonna turn in to watch the game due to the heat. It is way too hot in Lahore atm and having a day game will face such problems.
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I am seeing around 100 people max in the stadium as spectators...

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Which geniuses in the PCB felt it was a good idea to have a day game in Lahore in this heat?
 
Savak said:
Which geniuses in the PCB felt it was a good idea to have a day game in Lahore in this heat?
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Yeah, this is stupid. Overall planning and scheduling leaves lot to be desired. Gaps in the schedules, ra Dom day matches on the middle of the week at peak heat, etc. Another problem is starting at 8 meaning it will be around 12-30 by the times matches get over which means it will be close to 2 by the time crowd reach their home. How many families will be okay with coming o matches and reaching at 2am with family on a week day? It is not like public transportation is very good in most of the cities. Only Lahore has a metro and people will have to use ther private transportation. Not very well thought out.

In india matches get over 30 minutes earlier and most major cities have metros making it that much easier to reach statidum and enjoy the games with family. Just don't blame the crowd. City infrastructure and overall citizens safety is also a major factor in crowd showing up in big numbers. I wouldn't want to walk out in the middle of night in Karachi. My friend, with whom I stayed when I was in Karachi last time, insisted accompaning me everywhere and was very clear about me and even his family not going out at late. Not sure if the situation is same in Karachi now, but all this affects crowd turnout
 
SportsWarrior said:
Yeah, this is stupid. Overall planning and scheduling leaves lot to be desired. Gaps in the schedules, ra Dom day matches on the middle of the week at peak heat, etc. Another problem is starting at 8 meaning it will be around 12-30 by the times matches get over which means it will be close to 2 by the time crowd reach their home. How many families will be okay with coming o matches and reaching at 2am with family on a week day? It is not like public transportation is very good in most of the cities. Only Lahore has a metro and people will have to use ther private transportation. Not very well thought out.

In india matches get over 30 minutes earlier and most major cities have metros making it that much easier to reach statidum and enjoy the games with family. Just don't blame the crowd. City infrastructure and overall citizens safety is also a major factor in crowd showing up in big numbers. I wouldn't want to walk out in the middle of night in Karachi. My friend, with whom I stayed when I was in Karachi last time, insisted accompaning me everywhere and was very clear about me and even his family not going out at late. Not sure if the situation is same in Karachi now, but all this affects crowd turnout
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This time PCB didn't have much choice, they purposely chose 8 pm to ensure it is a cooler time for the crowd to come in April May and also to start a few hours later than the IPL.
 
Savak said:
This time PCB didn't have much choice, they purposely chose 8 pm to ensure it is a cooler time for the crowd to come in April May and also to start a few hours later than the IPL.
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i get it, but they also have to see how it affects the crowd. at the end of the day i would be okay for 22 professionals who are paid handsomely sweat it out for half an hour extra in summer heat than see empty stands. Already PSL is struggling to attract viewers, organizers shouldn't be making it difficult for cricket lovers to show up.
 
SportsWarrior said:
i get it, but they also have to see how it affects the crowd. at the end of the day i would be okay for 22 professionals who are paid handsomely sweat it out for half an hour extra in summer heat than see empty stands. Already PSL is struggling to attract viewers, organizers shouldn't be making it difficult for cricket lovers to show up.
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There are other factors PCB needed to consider

- Was it a good idea to make two neutral teams play each other in a neutral venue when the two teams didn't have crowd pulling superstars i.e. Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings? Two of the worst managed PSL teams?

- Is it a good idea to have cricket on the same ground, venue for 3-4 days in a row? Surely someone competent, professional in the PCB could have thought maybe saturation will occur eventually

- Heat Factor

PCB is hesitant to spend extra money in an effort to generate higher returns. PSL badly needs to go to other cities like Faisalabad, Gujranwalla, Sheikhupurra, Sialkot to ensure high crowd volume.
 
Savak said:
There are other factors PCB needed to consider

- Was it a good idea to make two neutral teams play each other in a neutral venue when the two teams didn't have crowd pulling superstars i.e. Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings? Two of the worst managed PSL teams?

- Is it a good idea to have cricket on the same ground, venue for 3-4 days in a row? Surely someone competent, professional in the PCB could have thought maybe saturation will occur eventually

- Heat Factor

PCB is hesitant to spend extra money in an effort to generate higher returns. PSL badly needs to go to other cities like Faisalabad, Gujranwalla, Sheikhupurra, Sialkot to ensure high crowd volume.
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yeah, i agree with your points. Teams have to play in front of their home crowd. Having neutral games in a t20 league defeats that purpose. also, continuous matches day after day on the same ground is ludicrous. i don't that happens anywhere unless it is something like Delhi premiere league or other local leagues.

PCB is not thinking about any of these issues. If we can come up with so many glaring issues, some competent administrators and consultants will come up many more and also offer solutions. I don't think PCB wants to do the hard work here
 
Savak said:
There are other factors PCB needed to consider

- Was it a good idea to make two neutral teams play each other in a neutral venue when the two teams didn't have crowd pulling superstars i.e. Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings? Two of the worst managed PSL teams?

- Is it a good idea to have cricket on the same ground, venue for 3-4 days in a row? Surely someone competent, professional in the PCB could have thought maybe saturation will occur eventually

- Heat Factor

PCB is hesitant to spend extra money in an effort to generate higher returns. PSL badly needs to go to other cities like Faisalabad, Gujranwalla, Sheikhupurra, Sialkot to ensure high crowd volume.
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Home and away games isn't the only issue here.

NSK has been empty.
No one showed up in Multan.
GSL had crowd in just one match.
Pindi had decent but not excellent crowd.
Quetta & Peshawar won't get home games due to outside factors.

There's something else that has failed & PCB needs to conduct surveys & gather fan information to reach to the cause of it. Home & away games in football work because football is setup differently, even tier 3 clubs have fanbases & home support & traveling fans who spend their hard earned money on their clubs but cricket especially in Pak does not garner such loyalty.

I have only seen Zalmi fans take interest in their identity, other team fanbases still carry Pak flags and chant "Pakistan zindabad" etc. Maybe two new teams (& most probably from central Punjab) will get the ball rolling as Faisalabad crowd showed up even for the challenger cup or whatever that tournament was called.
 
Least Interested crowd and traction for PSL I have seen online in a while, the first few PSLs were very good with graphics etc, only PCB can make a product bad in terms of viewing.
 
Ultimately every franchise is responsible for their own fan engagements. It is their ultimate responsibility to bring their fans to the ground especially in their home games atleast, even better on neutral venues. I have heard Peshawar Zalmi offers buses to help bring their fans to the stadium.

In contrast Salman Iqbal sits with a happy content smile on his face while his own franchise is playing in front of empty stadiums in Karachi.

PCB should throw emotions and personal relationships out of the equation and bring in some new franchise owners to inject some fresh energy and ideas.
 
it's simple, people have lost interest. Believe me or not , it has everything to do with the state of the country as a whole and performance of national team. I haven't watched a single game or complete highlights, maybe few minutes here and there.
 
iRfaN_LA said:
it's simple, people have lost interest. Believe me or not , it has everything to do with the state of the country as a whole and performance of national team. I haven't watched a single game or complete highlights, maybe few minutes here and there.
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A unique but a very important point.
 
The Bald Eagle said:
Decent crowd has turned up today for IU vs PZ
View attachment 154110
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This proves super stars put butts on the seats i.e. Babar Azam playing for Peshawar Zalmi and the Islamabad United team. Zalmi also has an aggressive fan engagement strategy where they provide special buses to ensure their fans arrive at the stadium. Something for the other franchises to learn from.
 
On a Saturday evening on a cricket focused site today’s match thread has less than 100 comments, with involvement from very few posters. Clearly very few people are excited about this edition and that is the reason you see sparse crowds in in the stadiums
 
Playing games in same stadium for consecutive days has no context more like washing your hands with soap a routine business it is.
 
Poor planning by the PCB and a cost cutting measure to have consecutive matches in the same venue
 
Savak said:
Poor planning by the PCB and a cost cutting measure to have consecutive matches in the same venue
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Why does the same team play matches back to back ? How is organized? Are they moving all teams to one location and playing few matches and then again moving to new location? Why was there a gap day couple of days back and then there was a day game? None of this makes sense. Any idea what is behind this kind of planning ? There must be some logic
 
SportsWarrior said:
On a Saturday evening on a cricket focused site today’s match thread has less than 100 comments, with involvement from very few posters. Clearly very few people are excited about this edition and that is the reason you see sparse crowds in in the stadiums
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Honestly I think the tournament is too long. I think all franchise tournaments last too long but I don't really watch any of them bar PSL.

10 matches per team during the league phase where 4/6 basically qualify for the next round is too much. This middle phase needs to be tweaked to keep the interest up.

Interest will pick up again during the next phase.
 
DeadlyVenom said:
Honestly I think the tournament is too long. I think all franchise tournaments last too long but I don't really watch any of them bar PSL.

10 matches per team during the league phase where 4/6 basically qualify for the next round is too much. This middle phase needs to be tweaked to keep the interest up.

Interest will pick up again during the next phase.
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IPL is even longer. It has produced some stellar cricket, great crowd and incredible involvement from everyone. Problem is not just being too long but lack of excitable local players who will pull the spectators to the ground. Even supposed superstars like Babar, Rizwan, Afridi, Naseem, Rauf have all been meh and honestly I don’t know who will pay their hard earned money to watch any of them play.
 
SportsWarrior said:
IPL is even longer. It has produced some stellar cricket, great crowd and incredible involvement from everyone. Problem is not just being too long but lack of excitable local players who will pull the spectators to the ground. Even supposed superstars like Babar, Rizwan, Afridi, Naseem, Rauf have all been meh and honestly I don’t know who will pay their hard earned money to watch any of them play.
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We should acknowledge that the Indian appetite for cricket is different to Pakistan's so they can perhaps tolerate a longer tournament.

Secondly we are now in the tenth season of the PSL. By now quality should be less of a factor for fan engagement. If the franchises had done their job properly the fans would have been so attached to their sides that individual names and performances would have mattered less. Our fans are still fans of Babar and Shaheen, the rivalries are still personal rivalries and they are often external to PSL ( i.e Amir badmouthed Babars international captaincy on TV let's see how they act on the pitch). Lahore V Karachi gets viewers not because of anything PSL has done but because of the historic rivalries of cities.

IPL has built a brand that I believe that no matter who plays and what the quality is, games like CSK V RCB will get massive fan engagement.

We need to work hard on building team identities.
 
Savak said:
Let's be honest, can you blame the crowd for not turning up to watch Multan Sultan's performance. On the other hand since Babar is playing, the stadium should have been jampacked. Maybe crowds will come in during the middle and end.
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You were right, Babar Factor still works
Screenshot_20250505-211112.jpg
 
Hopefully now Pakistanis won't take their freedom for granted and attend these matches and support their cricket.
 
Disappointing crowd for even the LQ vs KK game

Rawalpindi deserves more games

Develop Faisalabad and Multan stadiums as well

We'll see more crowds in those stadiums
 
Just watched last 3-4 overs, looks quite a small crowd and very club like fielding.
 
Crowd fear now a drone might hit them any time. They have no faith in Chinese tech unfortunately and they’re not wrong
 
Salman Naseer should be fired for grotesquely mis managing the PSL. On the PCB side, he should be on the hook for the low crowd turn outs. This season's PSL has been a big flop as far as fielding standards, technology and lack of crowd participation. Salman Naseer had only one job to do as the CEO of PCB and he still flopped it badly.
 
Feels like all the enthusiasm and buzz has been sucked out of the tournament. Disappointing to see such a low turnout eventhough the home team LQ was playing in what essentially was a semi-final.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
Feels like all the enthusiasm and buzz has been sucked out of the tournament. Disappointing to see such a low turnout eventhough the home team LQ was playing in what essentially was a semi-final.
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Crowd turnout for the tournament was low even before the Indo-Pak disruption. I understand that the weather in Pakistan right now is tough but the PCB, PSL franchises also need to wake up to the reality that the demand for the PSL product is declining and that they need to make some changes going forward.
 
Savak said:
Crowd turnout for the tournament was low even before the Indo-Pak disruption. I understand that the weather in Pakistan right now is tough but the PCB, PSL franchises also need to wake up to the reality that the demand for the PSL product is declining and that they need to make some changes going forward.
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Lahore was boasting good turnouts for LQ matches. I agree with your general point but clearly the attendances have taken a major hit since the resumption. I don't think any knockout match in Lahore in recent years has had such a poor turnout.

As far the tournament is concerned, cities like Karachi and Lahore in particular have been overexposed to cricket. They need to branch out to other cities like Faisalabad and Peshawar. Otherwise this tournament will only become more irrelevant.
 
Nobody wants to see a tournament in a country where there is no substance. The tournament seems to be losing its importance now.
 
Lahore still attracted a crowd. Lahore + Rawalpindi are the best grounds when it comes to crowd attendance.
 
I didnt bother to watch even if they gives me free ticket, 2024 t20 world cup and ct 2025 performances are major reasons....
 
Lahore has been roasting for the past week in an unusually high temperatures. It’s been near 40 degrees even around 9 pm. No one wants to come out in this heat. Plus a stadium with no roof or fans.
 
PAKFAN12 said:
Pindi has better crowd because of their low capacity.
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Even in a bigger stadium they would still fill it up

Just these bigger city folks are ungrateful and they should be treated as such

Move the qualifiers and final to Rawalpindi for next year

Also, develop stadiums in Faisalabad, Multan etc

The heat isn't an excuse either because the players are playing in this heat
 
where the lahoris at

ONns7lV.png
 
So PCB spent Rs 24 billion to renovate Gadhaffi Stadium only to further expose empty seats in the stadium
 
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