PCB gets $10m from two home series in UAE

The Pakistan Cricket Board is set to earn around $10 million (approximately 103 crore rupees) from the sale of media, title and ground rights for its upcoming ‘home’ series against South Africa and Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates starting from mid-October.

According to available details, the PCB has managed to earn more than its expectations from the two series which it has been forced to organise in the UAE due to the refusal of the South African and Sri Lankan teams to tour Pakistan because of security concerns.

“Initially the PCB managed to sell the title, co-sponsor and other ground rights for around $1 million and 250,000 dollars,” a well-informed source said.

“Then after a fair and transparent tender and bidding process it sold the media rights for the two series for a total of $8 million and 777,000 dollars to a Dubai-based channel and a Pakistani media group who made the highest bids,” the source added.

The PCB’s long standing four-year media rights/broadcasting contract with Taj Network Television, a Dubai-based company, had ended in June this year and due to shortage of time and other constraints, the board decided to sell the media rights for the SA and Sri Lanka series separately before inviting bids for another long-term contract,” the source said.

He pointed out that the entire process of inviting technical/financial bids and opening of bids process was independently monitored and overseen by an external auditor, Ernst and Young company while the bids committee chaired by former President of ICC, Ehsan Mani conducted the process.

The bid committee, besides Mani, included Justice (retd) Shabbir Hasan Rizvi, Subhan Ahmed, chief operating officer of the board, Badar Khan, chief financial officer PCB, Khawaja Ahmed Hosain, external legal counsel PCB, and Salman Naseer, manager legal PCB. Interestingly, PCB’s caretaker chairman, Najam Sethi, didn’t get involved in the bidding process.