Ramiz wants to explore player auctions instead of draft for PSL

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja wants to try the concept of introducing an auction to the Pakistan Super League (PSL) instead of the player drafts the league currently uses.

Ramiz wants the franchises to forge long-term contracts with the players with higher pay.

The idea emerged after the meeting of the chairman with the PSL franchises this weekend, according to publication.

But it stated that an obstacle in the way of these changes is the “long-standing impasse between the board and franchises over the league’s financial model”.

Ramiz’s ideas are reportedly being labeled “ambitious”.

Franchises argue that PSL’s current revenue distribution model is “preventing them and the league from flourishing”, the publication reported.

With the league now six seasons old, four out of six franchises are yet to hit break-even on their investments.

Every franchise is allotted an equal share from a central revenue pool each season.

The annual franchise fees range from between $1.1 million to $6.35 million, and the board makes $15.65 million every season from that, and also takes 15% from the broadcast revenue stream.

In the Indian Premier League (IPL), the franchises paid fees is over a 10-year period, during which they don’t have to pay an annual fee. In Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the franchises have the rights for 25 years.

In PSL, the franchises have a 10-year contract. In addition to this they also have to bear the broadcast production costs every year. The PCB covers the ground and matches costs.

However, last year, the matter reached such an extent the franchises took the PCB to court. It happened not long after the PCB had become entangled in legal disputes with the league’s broadcast-rights holder.

Franchises take PCB to court

The PCB has been instructed by the Lahore High Court to engage with franchisees to resolve their disputes outside of court.

Following a series of meetings with the franchises, then-PCB chairwoman Ehsan Mani appointed Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, a former Chief Justice of Pakistan, to a one-man independent panel to offer a solution. The judge’s report was submitted earlier this month, but the PCB has not shared it with the franchises because it is a confidential document, according to the PCB.

According to reports, the PCB’s reservations about the study so far arise from concerns about the legal ramifications of changing the PSL’s concept and the agreements that established the league.

PCB officials are concerned that a change in the PSL model may draw the attention of the state’s financial supervision and regulatory agencies, such as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Public Account Committee (PAC), and the Pakistan Auditor General. In the past, such groups have been involved in these issues.

Former PCB chairperson Najam Sethi, for example, was questioned by the PAC in 2016 for authorizing payments of $400,000 to each franchise. These payments were paid to compensate the franchises for their losses in the first season of the PSL.

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