The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was recently in the news when former cricketer Mohammad Yousuf criticised the board for allowing Misbah-ul-Haq to continue with the dual role of both coach and selector. Now the apex board is again in the headlines but due to a major revenue loss.
As per the latest media reports, the PCB has suffered a revenue loss of around USD 90 million in its last media rights deal. It is mainly because of the stoppage of bilateral cricket series with India for a long time.
From the last few years, both India and Pakistan don’t play bilateral series due to the diplomatic tension between the two nations. They only face each other in the ICC events like the Asia Cup and World Cup.
As per reports, a reliable source confirmed PCB’s last five-year deal, which expired this month, had a schedule of two home series against India. In fact, the broadcasters signed the contract worth 149 million dollars only on a condition that the series would be held against India.
“Unfortunately since Pakistan was unable to play the two home series against India as included in the agreement, Ten Sports and PTV the two broadcasters who had taken the rights deducted 90 million dollars of the total sum as per the agreement,” the source said.
The source also mentioned that the current condition of the market is not good at all because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
“The problem is that right now due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the situation in the market is bad. In fact, the situation for cricket broadcast rights has been poor since last December,” the source added.