The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced that the Pakistan Super League will now be a separate company. The decision stems from the long standing demand of the PSL franchises advocating for the step to manage affairs of the league more efficiently. The step indicates that the BCCI, which has been managing the IPL as its product for 18 years now, is way more efficient that its counterpart.
Why PSL can never outgrow IPL
In a 23-minute meeting with the franchise owners, PCB chairman Moshin Naqvi announced that PSL would be established as a separate company. One of the main reasons why the franchises put forth the demand was because of the PCB’s inefficiency in terms of managing the league. In fact, the PCB and former Pakistan cricketers have made tall claims previously as to how the PSL was bigger than the IPL. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Various T20 leagues across the globe, including SA20, BBL, IPL, MLC, PSL, ILT20, BPL, etc, follow different models of ownership. In India, IPL remains the product of the BCCI on whole. PCB, too, followed the footsteps of India so far, in terms of managing PSL. But not any longer.
IPL enjoys more attraction from all cricket boards and fans across the world. The lucrative deals offered to the players, the revenue earned from the tournament, the priority given to IPL over PSL, the ad revenues, and the star power outdoes PSL easily. In 2023, former PCB chief Najam Sethi had claimed that 150 million people had watched PSL while only 130 million people watched the IPL digitally. Sadly, the IPL has outgrown the PSL since then and even now.
While the PCB had struggled with giving PSL frnachises their due revenue in 2024, the IPL was much more profitable. In fact, the official broadcaster of IPL 2025 is targeting a revenue of at least Rs 4500 crore in IPL 2025. Will PSL reach that level in the upcoming season? No. It is impposible. On top of that, the league has decided to overlap IPL 2025. What this means is that the PCB is dependent on IPL discards to be a part of the next PSL edition. Multiple ex-Pakistan cricketers, including former skipper Inzaman-ul-Haq have urged boards to boycot IPL in favour of the PSL. But that is highly unlikely to happen.
