Four PSL3 matches apiece in Karachi and Lahore, vows Sethi

League chairman says all players will be contractually bound to feature in these matches

KARACHI: Times are good for the Pakistan Super League (PSL). It just finished its second year and managed to build on a debut campaign that has surpassed even the most optimistic of expectations, both on and off the field.

There was the fixing scandal that put it in disrepute, but the PSL proved to be bigger and stronger than that. It, arguably, became the second biggest cricketing league in the world. It gave the nation almost starved of good entertainment something to look forward. Perhaps most importantly, it finally brought cricket to Pakistan — even if it was only for one day.

But those in control of the PSL are not resting on their laurels.

“This time around we are going to hold eight matches in Pakistan,” revealed PSL head Najam Sethi, while talking to The Express Tribune. “Two double headers will take place in Karachi and two double headers will take place in Lahore.”

While the final was held in Lahore last time around, finalist Quetta Gladiators’ frontline foreign picks — Englishmen Kevin Pietersen,Luke Wright and Tymal Mills, and South African Rilee Rossouw — all refused to play at the Gaddafi Stadium despite featuring heavily in their run to the final.

That decision forced Quetta to sign back-up foreign players that could not gel well enough with the side in time, nor were they of a quality at par with that of the outgoing players.

This time around though, there will be no such problem. “All players featuring in the third edition of the PSL will be obliged to play in Pakistan,” said Sethi. “It will be part of their contract that they will be playing here.”

The foreign players will be receiving 50% above their usual fee for that match as added incentive, or 100% if they are icon players. “So if a player was getting let’s say $10,000 for that match, then he will be getting $15,000,” added the 69-year-old. “It is just a way to sweeten the deal for them.”

That offer, though, is not for national players, with Sethi pointing to financial restrictions as the reason to not being able to do so. “It cost us quite a bit more to have the final in Lahore last time around, since we had to hire a new production company just for that one match,” he said. “So our expenses will be quite high this time around too since our original production company doesn’t come to Pakistan due to a veto from their board of directors.”

‘The PSL is an eight-team model’

A sixth team is set to be added into the PSL mix from the third edition, with the bidding process already underway.

“We had a total of six eligible bidders for the five teams when we began two years ago,” said Sethi. “It is a measure of how far the league has come that this time around we have 30 bidders for one team.”

The PCB executive committee head was unable to hide the pride in his voice as he claimed that some of the biggest financial names of the country now want to be a part of the PSL and have submitted the non-refundable $1,000 charge along with their bids.

“The bid committee — which includes me, the PCB COO, the PCB CFO, the PCB director marketing and our external legal counsel — will be looking at not only the amount of money they have bid but also the technical side of it since we want to ensure the winning party is fit to run a PSL team. The technical bids have a deadline of April 29 and it’s May 1 for the financial bids,” he said.

But the financial side of the bidding process cannot be ignored, and the PCB have set a reserve price that will be revealed on the morning of the decision. Only bids above that price will be considered, with an auction taking place if there are multiple bids over it. The reserve price of the sixth side, assured Sethi, would be higher than that of the previous five keeping in mind the success of the league.

But a sixth side will not see the end of additions to the PSL. “The initial model is of eight teams and we will be trying to bring it to eight as soon as possible,” added Sethi.

Attention all broadcasters

The addition of more teams and more matches in Pakistan will not be the only changes to the PSL in the coming years though.

“When we started the PSL nobody was sure of the response it will get, so when we asked for bids for broadcasting rights, what we received was far below what we would have liked,” said Sethi. “So we kept the rights for ourselves.”

The league therefore works on a unique model, in which it pays channels to televise its matches. “All advertisement revenue during PSL broadcast — starting from half an hour before the match and till half an hour after it — belongs to the PCB and not the channels,” said Sethi. “We have basically brought the slots from three channels and we pay them to beam the matches.”

That, however, is about to change. “We are doing that for the first three years, so we will be accepting bids for the next three years — PSL4,  PSL5 and PSL6 — along with bids for the sixth team,” revealed Sethi. “That was just a stop-gap solution and brought along with it more hassle than we would like to have on our hands.”

The PSL may have had a stronger start than almost everyone had expected, but with more matches in Pakistan, more teams, and better coverage, there is only one direction in which the country’s biggest-ever sporting brand is headed.