PSL 2020's media rights income lesser than any IPL 2020 team's expense on player salaries

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) followed the footsteps of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and started their own T20 league (Pakistan Super League) in 2016. The PSL has evolved quickly and has become a tournament which many fans really look forward to every year. However, when you compare PSL with the IPL, fans would realize there are a lot of differences between the two leagues. One of the major differences is the financial dichotomy between the PSL and IPL.

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The financial dichotomy between PSL 2020 and IPL 2020

PSL's media rights (Pakistan and overseas) were sold for PKR 1,33,72,30,220.92 which comes to somewhere around ₹59.8 crore in INR. On the other hand, all the franchises in the IPL 2020 have spent at least ₹60 crore in their player roster salaries.

In fact, IPL's media rights were sold to Star India for a period of five years from 2018-22. The BCCI sold the IPL media rights to Star India for a whopping ₹60.32 billion. When we narrow it down to one match, it comes to ₹591 million. That means for each IPL match, Star India is paying as much as ₹59.1 crore, which is almost as much as the amount of PSL 2020's media rights.

The PSL 2020 came to a halt in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament had to be sidelined after a few matches were played behind closed doors as a precautionary measure to the coronavirus. However, with the situation deteriorating in Pakistan, the PCB had to postpone the PSL 2020.

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The PSL 2020 was the first edition of the league to be entirely played in Pakistan. With the PSL 2020 being played in Pakistan, the franchises were expecting that bringing the league to the country will be financially beneficial for them. However, they were left disappointed after going through the initial unaudited accounts as they faced huge losses.

PSL 2020 franchise suffer huge losses despite league taking place in Pakistan

According to cricketpakistan.com.pk, the entire revenue generated by PSL 2020 is PKR 2,167,794,749 (₹96,88,64,319.27). PCB’s share from this figure is PKR 627,612,185 (₹28,05,02,133) while the total franchises share is PKR 1,540,182,564 (₹68,83,62,185). There are six franchises in total in the PSL 2020.

Hence, each franchise will receive PKR 256,697,094 (₹11,47,11,715) from the central revenue pool, which is PKR 30,000,000 (₹1,34,06,273) less than last year’s share. The fact that franchises suffered losses despite PSL 2020 being arranged in Pakistan is a concerning issue for the PCB. Recently, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar had also claimed that PSL is facing an economic crisis.

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The same publication also reported that all the PSL franchises are united in demanding the PCB to bring about a change in the 'non-profitable' financial model existing at moment or the tournament's survival could definitely under greater threat than previously perceived.

When will IPL 2020 start?

Ever since IPL 2020 was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fans started wondering 'When will IPL 2020 start? To answer the 'When will IPL 2020 start' query, the IPL 2020 will start on September 19 and go on till November 10, which was announced in by the BCCI after the Government Council meeting on Sunday. The IPL dates haven't been announced yet. However, the IPL dates are soon expected to be announced after BCCI's meeting with the franchises.

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IMAGE COURTESY: PSL TWITTER