Pakistan Super League: PSL reopening a cricket-crazy country to the world

Put simply, it’s big – both financially and from the fans’ point of view.

The latest three-year deal for television and digital rights was sold for $36m (£27.1m) – an increase of 358% on the previous deal – while the three-year title sponsorship deal is now worth $14.3m (£10.8m).

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also receives $16.5m (£12.4m) per year in franchise fees from the six teams: Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, Multan Sultans, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators.

When the franchise agreement for Multan Sultans with a Dubai-based business group – who had purchased it for $5.2m in 2017 – was terminated last year due to its inability to meet financial demands, there was a fear the PCB would not be able to meet the price again.

Instead, the new buyer purchased it at $6.35m, which is $3.75m more than the most expensive franchise – Karachi Kings ($2.6m) – cost at the time of the league’s inception in 2015.

The amounts may seem small compared to other tournaments such as the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big Bash League, but the PCB believes such deals will become more lucrative once the PSL is fully hosted in Pakistan.

Only eight out of 34 games have been held in Pakistan this year with the rest being played in the UAE, where the Pakistan national team plays the majority of its ‘home’ matches.

The PCB is expecting to have at least half of the tournament in Pakistan from next year.

Three of the eight games this year were originally scheduled in Lahore but they were shifted to Karachi as Lahore’s airspace was closed in wake of the recent India-Pakistan border skirmishes.

In terms of support, nearly 200,000 people will have been at the National Stadium across the seven days the PSL has been in town while, perhaps more impressively, 90% of the television audience in the nation’s capital, Islamabad, watched the final between their team and and Peshawar last year.