The time has come for HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchises to reload their coffers as most of them will be profited massively after the changes in the financial model.
Under the new financial model, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have decided to give 95 per cent of the revenue to the franchisees.
Title sponsorship, broadcasting rights and commercial agreements are the reason behind this. PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja has played a main role because PSL franchises have been stating since the start of the league that they are incurring losses.
They demanded to change the model and the case also went to court while Ehsan Mani was the chairman of the PCB but the stakeholders opted to talk.
There were various models under consideration but there was a change in the PCB regime and Ramiz Raja tried to dig out the solution positively. At last, both the parties agreed on a new model where franchises will get 95 per cent of the revenue while PCB will receive the remaining.
According to sources, many franchises will be benefited and they can also cover the previous losses. PCB did a television rights' deal for PKR4,350,786,786 while they bagged title sponsorship rights for around PKR3.5Billion. The live-streaming rights saw an increase of 175 per cent.
The credit for this goes to Ramiz Raja, who listened to the franchises and met their demands. One franchise official told that after new agreements, the revenue in Central Pool will be increased and all the teams will get an advantage from it.
If the franchises remove spendings which include players' travel and living expenses, salaries and other things, they will still get the huge sum this time around. Franchisees also receive PKR200million from sponsors with respect to brand value.
They will have a profit of at least PKR500million. Sources told that Quetta Gladiators, Peshawar Zalmi and Islamabad will get benefits while the owners of Karachi Kings have acquired TV Rights, therefore after calculating all the expenses, they will also have an advantage.
However, due to paying heavy fees of over PKR1billion, Multan Sultans along with Lahore Qalandars will have little amount left in their tank.
An interesting fact to shed upon is the franchises that collectively fought against the PCB are now far from each other after meeting their own interests.
Recently, two franchises were dealing for sponsorship with the same company but a third franchise jumped and did an agreement in a lesser amount
PCB reminded franchises to pay fees for the second time, sources revealed that some have paid while PCB has the amount of others that has been deducted.
It must be noted that there has been a massive increase in PSL's brand value. The estimation can be evaluated that at the start of the tournament that one minute cost around PKR75,000 but now it is selling around PKR1.3million.