Kashmir’s addition in PSL may face hurdles: Najam Sethi

Tournament chairman says they beat their expectations in regards to profits generated from event

Pakistan Super League (PSL) chairman Najam Sethi on Monday said the addition of Kashmir as the sixth team in the second edition of the event may face a few hurdles.

In the inaugural edition, five teams namely Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar participated and were given a written security by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that a sixth team will not be added until the third edition.

"We will not have [a new team] until the third year; that is written," said Sethi. "But at the same time we are looking at the financials about the addition of a sixth team, in terms of whether it will be Kashmir, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Gilgit-Baltistan or any other team. That decision is pending. We have to weigh the pros and cons and that's the issue right now but we cannot have it until all franchises agree. Without their consent we can't make it [happen]."

The disagreement from franchises might come because of the potential cut in their share from the central revenue pool. Sethi said he is trying to convince the five franchises who received 70% of the revenue from the inaugural edition.

"Of course we have to offer guarantee to the teams that they will be better by having a sixth team and have to convince them,” he said. “I have my team working on different values, estimated profits and revenues before pitching this idea to them but this idea is definitely under consideration. Basically, the advice from our finance department is that this is the high time to add sixth team as the values are very high at this stage before the second edition. We have to cash in the hype we have created from the first edition and this may go down next year."

Sethi also delved into details about the monetary aspects of the first edition and confirmed that each franchise’s spending cap has been increased by 10% from the first edition when it was US$1.2m. He also said they spent extra from their estimated budget but still managed to generate profit.

"We beat our own expectations and the asset value of each team has increased drastically," said Sethi. "Teams aren't really making profits right now from the market and they need time to make themselves a proper brand but their asset value has gone up significantly. If any of the teams want to sell their team they can get a hike of one million in their original price, which is a welcoming sign.”

He added: “We sold franchises in $9.3million with the first year and revenue from other means was $2.11million for the first edition. We spent $1.22million extra from our estimated budget that was $7.71m; the expenditures were $4.71m in direct and $4.22m in operational cost which is mainly because of the high value of renting the stadium in UAE which cost us $3.27m (Dubai and Sharjah)."

Najam Sethi was interviewed by ESPNcricinfo