All eyes in the cricketing world will turn towards the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in February 2016 as Pakistan cricket forays into the world of hosting a T20 league on par with some of the most successful leagues from across the globe.
The PSL has seen its share of delay with it being postponed twice in 2014 and 2015 which the PCB said was due to a lack of response from sponsors and other logistics issues.
The tournament is set to kick-off on February 4, 2016 and the final is set to be played on February 24, 2016. The venue has also been changed from Doha, Qatar to the United Arab Emirates – Dubai and Sharjah will host all the matches.
With five teams competing for the trophy, PSL will offer a prize money of $1 million to the ultimate winners.
Although it is early days, but the PSL broadcasting rights for the tournament are up for grabs. Currently PTV and Ten Sports are the two official broadcasting TV partners for showing all cricket matches played in Pakistan. Although a fresh auction will be called for the PSL, Ten Sports Network look like frontrunners to land the broadcast rights of the tournament.
Apart from the television broadcast, PCB are also exploring options to tie up with online websites to enable streaming of the matches. This will ensure greater viewership and in turn will attract bigger sponsors.
Although more is to be revealed later about the broadcasters of the PSL, PCB Executive Committee chief, Najam Sethi, says that PSL will make money out of broadcast rights, sponsorship rights, apparel rights, and ticket sales with the franchises getting a share out of this central pool.
This alone puts the broadcast rights in a very crucial position as it will bear an important mark on the financial viability and success of this T20 league and will also be a crucial indicator on how the PSL is received across the world vis-à-vis other similar domestic championships.
