LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has started to spend money like water on Chairman Ramiz Raja's dream project Pakistan Junior League (PJL). According to sources, the expenses may vary from PKR 80 crores to one billion while PKR 25 to 30 crores will be spent on TV production. 

Earlier, only two companies came forward for PJL's title sponsor and PCB only received less than 25 percent of the reserve price. On the other hand, a reserve price of PKR 4 crores 20 lakh was kept, and only one company came forward with a bid of PKR 70 lakhs. Later, only one company came forward to buy the franchise rights and the board decided to take over the teams. PJL seems to be a loss project financially.

Only mentors Mentors Colin Munro, Imran Tahir, Darren Sammy, Javed Miandad, Shahid Afridi, Sir Vivian Richards and Shoaib Malik are being paid more than PKR one crore. A lot of money will be spent on accommodation of teams staying in five-star hotels and travel expenses of foreign cricketers.

When contacted, the spokesperson said that, like other cricket federations, PCB also does not publicly disclose the expenses of any domestic or international series. PJL is part of our development program and an investment for the National U13,16,19, but it will be held at a higher level, the broadcast costs will be part of the event budget and borne by the PCB.

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 07 2022

Like Business on Facebook, follow @DailyNCourier on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.