Multan Sultans “out”, owners “in” again

KARACHI:

Many of my friends are rich, but none are the richest. Today, I feel the absence of someone who could help me understand the mindset of the truly wealthy. Honestly, I can’t understand the Multan Sultans issue. Let me explain it in simple words.

The Sultans’ owners had bought the team for an annual fee of 1.08 billion rupees. According to a foreign company’s valuation, this figure, after adjustments, probably reaches around 1.35 billion rupees. However, as far as Ali Tareen’s Multan Sultans were concerned, matters had already reached a point of no return.

Now, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed that it will itself handle the Multan franchise’s affairs in PSL 11. Because of Mohsin Naqvi’s other official position, everyone fears him. Ali did what others usually do — instead of criticizing the chairman, he made the PSL CEO Salman Naseer the target.

Do you think the other five franchises have no complaints about the board? Of course, they do. But they don’t vent their frustrations in the media — for that, meetings are the right platform.

To be fair, the owner of Multan Sultans wasn’t wrong about everything. It’s true that the league’s affairs need improvement. The owners aren’t given the respect they deserve, and there’s often no consultation on key matters. However, Ali used some words for Salman that he shouldn’t have. Initially, the board stayed silent, but later it issued a notice.

Even then, the matter could have been resolved — but Ali Tareen, in Salman Khan’s dramatic style, tore up the notice in a video and threw it away. Being the son of a powerful father helped him; if it were any other franchise, they would have been made an example of.

Things should never have reached this point. Ali Tareen is a good person — surely, he wasn’t looking for a fight. He himself once said that it would’ve been better if he had been called in for tea, grievances discussed behind closed doors, and then he and Salman would’ve come out shaking hands. But the matter turned into an ego battle.

The board told him to apologize, delete his social media posts and videos, and then return. But had he done that, what would’ve happened to the public image he had built? That’s why, in his next video, he bid farewell to the team.

The PCB had already decided not to offer him contract renewal, so the franchise slipped from his hands. Terminating the contract outright would have created more noise, so officially, it will be said that the contract ends on December 31.

If the story had ended there, there would’ve been no issue — but the real twist came when it was revealed that the Tareen Group was also participating in the bidding for two new PSL teams.

The bidding is expected to start from 1.25 billion rupees, possibly going as high as 1.5 billion or more.

Now, if Ali Tareen ends up buying a more expensive team, what was the point of all that fighting? If the franchise fee didn’t matter to him, why all the noise? People say money isn’t a problem for the Tareens — losing a few crores annually makes no difference to them.

The former owners believed that the league’s model was flawed, that owners weren’t treated with respect. But will the new owners fix everything or be treated with more respect? Obviously, things will remain the same.

Their biggest loss, however, is that the brand “Multan Sultans”, painstakingly built by the late Alamgir Tareen, is now gone. The new team will have a new name — unless they pay $1 million (ten lakh dollars) to keep the same name after winning the bid.

But again, what’s the point of spending and struggling so much? Why not just keep Multan Sultans?

You probably know how the PSL financial model works: each team pays a different fee, but every franchise receives the same 95% share from the central income pool. Whether you pay a few crores or over a billion, the profit share is identical.

If a new team sells for around 1.25 billion rupees, it will still have to spend at least 500 million rupees (50 crore) on players, coaches, travel, and accommodation.

The PCB has decided that for the next three years, the new owners of both teams will be guaranteed at least 850 million rupees (85 crore) annually from the central income pool — and if the amount falls short, the board will cover the deficit.

Even if the owners make 20–25 crore from sponsorships, they’ll still have to invest heavily from their own pockets initially.

However, the parties involved in the bidding are very strong — they surely have their own business model. No businessman makes a deal expecting losses.

Interestingly, the Multan Sultans owners, before leaving, did something that put other owners in a difficult spot. Most franchises declared themselves in loss during valuation — but the Sultans declared profit.

Now the question arises: if a team paying 1.08 billion is profitable, how are teams paying much less in losses?

Mohsin Naqvi is working very hard on the PSL. He’s transformed stadiums, humbled the Indian Cricket Board, and can rise to this challenge too.

So, if the Sultans’ owners thought they could buy a new team cheaply, they’re probably mistaken. They’ve miscalculated before too. Perhaps if Najam Sethi or Zaka Ashraf were chairman, their plan might have worked — but Mohsin Naqvi is a tough man, one who’s handled even the most powerful people.

Several politicians and influential personalities tried to mediate, but the board refused to accept anything less than a public apology.

Some people say that after the harsh things Ali Tareen said, he shouldn’t even have been allowed to bid. But I think the board did the right thing — let them participate and see how high they go.

If they were stopped, they’d have claimed they were victims — “first they took away our old franchise, now they’re not letting us buy a new one.”

Now, the real question is: on January 8, will one of the new teams go to the Tareens, or will other super-rich elite investors win?

Still, I can’t understand the strategy of letting go of one team with one hand and grabbing another with the other.

If you’ve figured it out — please, do explain it to me.