PSL franchises reject rebidding process as part of revised financial model

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchises have collectively rejected the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) proposal for a rebidding process as part of the revised financial model.

In September, the franchises had filed a case against the PCB in the Lahore High Court (LHC) after suffering major losses, due to the current financial model, over the course of the last five years.

Later, in the proceedings before the Lahore High Court (LHC) an out-of-court settlement was agreed upon between the parties to deliberate and discuss the disagreements and other issues associated with the structure of the PSL.

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According to sources, PCB had presented two new financial models to the franchises in the few meetings held so far. The first model proposes the option of rebidding, which the franchises have vehemently rejected. The franchises have suffered losses for five years and do not want to risk their investment by going through the rebidding process. According to the aforementioned model, the board will not ask any for any fee from the franchises. However, the franchises will only have 30 percent share in the profits while the board will retain 70 percent. According to the second proposed model, franchises will have 90 percent share in all commercial contracts. The team owners are yet to approve this model.

Sources further added that PCB chairman Ehsan Mani recently met some team owners in Karachi. He again reiterated his limitations regarding accepting all the demands of the franchises. On the other hand, franchises believe that PCB is now following the ‘divide and rule’ formula, as the board officials are now meeting all team owners separately.