New issues crop up between PCB and PSL franchises

New issues have cropped up between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchises. The addition of the PSL in the international broadcasting rights for bilateral series has irked franchise owners.

The owners have not been informed of what their shares would be in the new deal. The board has remained silent after asking for two individuals who could take part in the advisory meetings.

The PCB had initially granted the foreign media rights to Tech Front International FZE for the PSL from 2019 to 2021. The board ended the contract in September after a delay in payment along with several breaches of the contract.

Tech Front had approached the London Court of International Arbitration in this regard.  The PCB had in turn approached the same body for their losses.

According to a tender published a few months prior, the PCB had advertised the international broadcasting rights for bilateral series from November 2020 to March 2023 alongside the PSL from 2021 to 2023.

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The tender has been deemed void since bids could not be received from several regions except for South Africa and will now be published again in the future. The PSL franchises are unhappy after the fact that the PSL had been advertised along with bilateral events.

The PCB had originally claimed that this was done in order to raise the overall value of the deal which is a troubling development for PSL franchises which have been facing constant losses.

According to a source, the PCB had added the PSL along with bilateral series because of its brand value. The board had asked for two individuals to take part in the advisory meetings but remained silent after four names were sent. It is also not clear how a value would be set for the series and the PSL.

PCB’s Director Media Samiul Hasan Burney, when contacted by a Daily Express correspondent, claimed that officials were not present because of the holiday and a statement could only be made after the matter is discussed with the concerned staff members.

It should be noted that the PCB was scheduled to receive $10,00,000 from the three-year PSL broadcasting deal with Tech Front.