The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has given the option of six cities to parties interested in bidding for the right to own the two new teams in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for the next 10-years. The PCB said after a meeting between the PSL CEO Salman Naseer and the existing franchise owners/representatives that bidders for the two new teams can choose from Hyderabad, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit and Rawalpindi.
Tenders will be issued for the two new teams in the next few days according to the PCB and the process to sell ownership rights would be completed by next month. The PCB also said that the process for independent valuation of the existing franchises and the two new teams and other commercial assets had been completed by the international auditors. “The audit firm has sent renewal letters to the six franchises reflecting the new annual franchise fees for the next 10 years and the teams have been requested to revert with their decisions in the given time frame,” one official said.
A reliable source said that the auditors had recommended an increase of 75 to 150 percent for the existing franchises Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Multan. Multan Sultans is the most expensive franchise in the league with annual fees of $6.35 million followed by fees ranging from 2.6 million to 1.3 million dollars. The meeting, however, didn’t finalise any window for holding the 11th edition of the PSL which is expected to clash with the Indian Premier League again between March and May next year.
