PCB's media rights bid fails to meet expectations

Sports Five offered the highest bid of $7.8m which is not even half of what was expected

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has faced another setback in its pursuit of international media rights.

The latest bid for the sale of these rights yielded only half the value of the previously cancelled bid.

The PCB set a reserve price of around $21 million for the three-year international media rights, but this figure proved unattainable.

A consortium of a Pakistani media group and a private company, along with foreign companies Willow and Sports Five, participated in the bidding process.

Sports Five offered the highest bid of $7.8 million.

The Pakistani consortium bid approximately $4.1 million, while Willow offered $2.25 million.

When the reserve price was not met, the PCB proposed a second round of bidding, where the Pakistani consortium raised its bid to $7.85 million.

However, the PCB rejected this bid as well, as it still did not meet the reserve price.

Following this, a new tender was issued for the home series against New Zealand and the women's series against the West Indies.

During this process, the Pakistani companies jointly bid $99,000 (roughly Rs 27.6 million), Willow bid $75,000, and Sports Five bid $50,000.

The PCB recently initiated another attempt to sell international media rights for the period from 2024 to 2026.

During this time, the Pakistan team is scheduled to play 61 matches, including 11 Tests, 26 ODIs, and 24 T20Is.

Despite these efforts, the PCB's expectations were not met, with the highest bid amounting to only half of the previously rejected offer.