PCB chairman mulls changes to PSL model

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Sept 27, 2021: Rameez Raja, chairmain of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), in an effort to strengthen the league, wants to consider introducing an auction in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) instead of a draft of players currently using the league.

The PCB boss wants franchises to select players for long-term contracts at higher salaries. The idea was allegedly accepted by the PSL franchises after a meeting between him and Raja this weekend. But he said one obstacle to these changes was a “long standoff between the board and the franchisees over the league’s financial model.”

The idea is being labelled as “ambitious”

Franchisees say the PSL’s current revenue distribution model is preventing them and the league from flourishing.

After being held for six years, it is said that four of the six franchises have yet to break even their investment. All six teams participate equally each season in a central revenue pool (which comes from the league’s broadcast rights and commercial deals).

Annual franchise fees range from $ 1.1 million to $ 6.35 million, and the board makes $15.65 million per season, and also charges 15% from the broadcast revenue stream.

In perspective, the IPL, the original eight franchises paid fees over a 10-year period, beyond which they don’t have to pay any annual fee. Whereas, in the Caribbean Premier League, the franchises have rights for 25 years.

PSL franchises, on the other hand, have a ten-year contract. PSL franchises also bear the cost of broadcast production each year while PCB covers the cost of ground and match officials. Matters came to a head last year when the franchisees took the PCB to court over the issue. This happened shortly after the PCB became embroiled in a legal dispute with the league’s broadcast rights holder.

The Lahore High Court asked the PCB to work with the franchisees and resolve their issues out of court.

After a series of meetings with the franchisees, then PCB chairperson Ehsan Mani added a former chief justice, Tassaduq Hussain Jilani, to an independent one-man panel to propose a solution. The judge released the report earlier this month, although the PCB did not share it with the franchisees, saying it was a confidential document.

It has been reported that the PCB’s reservation on the report so far is due to the legal implications of the change in the PSL model and its concerns about the agreements on which the league was formed.

PCB officials are believed to have changed the PSL model by drawing the attention of state financial oversight and regulatory authorities such as the NAB, the PAC  and the Auditor General of Pakistan.

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