Since the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket in 2009, cricket was at a standstill in Pakistan. Meanwhile India jumped into new era through success of IPL where Pakistani players were not welcomed.
There were efforts at PCB to start country’s own league. The first attempt was under Dr Nasim Ashraf in 2008 was failed to gain any interest. Subsequently in 2012-13 and in 2014 the process was halted. All leagues work on TV broadcasting model - TV channels pick up rights and pay the organizing board for it.
However, the TV channels, media buying houses and sponsors’ response was lackluster. The sports event was again at the verge of collapse in 2015, when the PCB took risk of assuming the role of media rights herself and sold that to a media advertising agency. The agency bought the rights at somewhere mid of what PCB perceived value and the too low bids received from TV channels.
The point is that unprecedented broadcast arrangement saved PSL. Both PCB and its partners assumed the risk and initiated the event. When the teams’ bids were offered there was lackluster response as for five bids there were only six offers. Similarly, the media buying house and prime sponsor bids were lower than expectations of PCB; as every stakeholder assumed the risk along with PCB.
The first PSL took place in 2016 in UAE and the saga was a success right from the opening ceremony. The PSL brought back life to Pakistan cricket; it brought much needed soft image of Pakistan. In its second year the final was staged in Lahore and in 2018 three matches were played in home grounds.
It changed the landscape of Pakistan cricket for good; it resolved the problem of talent hunt for the selection board as players like Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Hassan Ali, Muhammad Nawaz and others are now Pakistan cap holders. The performance of these players speaks for the success of PSL.
The PSL coming back to Pakistan was an icebreaker for international cricket too. Thereafter, a few international teams visited Pakistan and also world 11 came for playing in Pakistan. The spillover is on the other sports as well - Football international players visited Pakistan, there was a Kabadi league played at home and now there is work going on to bring hockey league in the country.
Slowly and gradually the sports is coming back and testing the capacity of infrastructure and management to host international matches/tournament in Pakistan. Should the security situation further improve, it’s a matter of a few years, before international cricket becomes a norm in Pakistan.
The capacity to manage has eroded in the last decade or so. For instance, in Karachi the final of PSL 2018 took place while the stadium was not fully ready. And at this moment, renovation work is in progress in Jinnah Stadium.
Apart from Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, either no stadium is ready for staging big matches or cities do not have hotels to accommodate team and other staff. For instance, there is no hotel in Multan to host international level cricket and crew teams while the Pindi stadium is in shambles. Then there are management capacity constraints both in private and public sectors to host mega events.
It would take time to improve security perception and to build capacity. The idea is to slowly bring cricket and other international sports event back in Pakistan. IN PSL 2019, there are talks of having eight matches at home and the PCB management is working hard to manage all those.
One may argue that if in the UAE 2-3 stadiums can manage a full tournament; why can’t this be done in Lahore and Karachi. The model of UAE cannot be replicated in home at once. The security and capacity have improved in the past three years which is evident from better handling of traffic and other aspects in 2018 versus those were in 2017. It is likely to improve further in 2019.
The need is move step by step. However, the most important requirement is to not change the winning combination. The PSL bids were for three years, and now the media, sponsorship and other rights are to be renewed through bidding process. The government is changing and there are rumours that the team at PCB may be changed.
If that happens, there is a fair chance of the new team to be better or at par to the incumbents. However, the newcomers would take their sweet time to come on the learning curve, where the PCB current management stands after four years of experience of creating and managing PSL.
The bidding process has to start in a few months time; and it’s time to milk the profits for PCB who lived on lower numbers in 2015. Now if everything runs smooth, the prime sponsor, media buying house and other bids would be much higher than 2015. It is pertinent to mention that biggest beneficiaries would be franchises who took the biggest risk in the past three years; they are hoping now to turn their losses into profits.
However, if uncertainty prevails, country may lose gains, and in turn the sponsors and others would bid low; and this would imply losses to PCB, franchises and cricket.
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