When Pakistan played their first home series at the start of this season with two red-ball games against Bangladesh, they failed to collect international media rights for the games, and it expects to remain the same before their upcoming three-match Test series against England, which starts on October 07 at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
There were reports, of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), not confirming the venues for the series, which they later rescheduled and planned the first two games in Multan before the action moved to Rawalpindi for the third and final game. The National Stadium in Karachi has lost the chance to host the second game due to its renovation work for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2024.
But, just two weeks before the beginning of the series, the PCB wasn’t been able to attract any international media rights for the series, which could ended up being one of the biggest financial losses for them and prevented the British fans from enjoying the Ben Stokes-led side to enjoy the games.
No international media rights for Pakistan’s 3 Tests vs England
The sources have revealed that their cricket board, at the initial stage, planned a reserve price of around $21 million for a three-year international media rights deal. But, quite surprisingly, no bid came close to meeting the figure, as the highest one of the rights came from the foreign company Sports Five, which bid $7.4 million.
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A joint bid from the two Pakistani companies amounted to around $4.1 million, while Willow TV offered only $2.25 million, All of those bids were rejected because of only reached the expected mark. It was the same case during the Bangladesh series, given they thought that it would be an easy series for the home side against the Najmul Hossain Shanto, who later ended up with a historic series win with a 2-0 margin.
In an attempt to salvage the whole situation, the Pakistan board conducted a re-tendering process for the home series against New Zealand and the women’s series against the West Indies. This time, the joint bid from the companies of the home country reached $99,000, and it emerged as the winning offer.
One of the issues is the quality of the game in the longest format Pakistan has been playing. Their star batter, Babar Azam, has been struggling with form, which has resulted in the drop-down of the media rights of their Tests. Also, in winter, most of the England fans remain engaged in football.
Despite the involvement of the former ICC official Campbell Jamieson in the bidding process, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) didn’t receive any benefit. The board also tried to sell the international media rights for the 2024-26 period but could receive only a 50% share of their desired amount and was forced to halt the bids.
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Generally, Sky Sports has been the broadcaster for Pakistan cricket in the United Kingdom, but this time they have shown no interest in purchasing those rights. However, this time the sources have revealed that with no such time left significantly for the series, the home board could end up selling the rights for a pretty low price to avoid a blackout in the UK.
The current condition of the viewership on the side has put the Pakistani board at risk of going through a huge financial hit for the board. This has raised concerns over the management regarding how they deal the media rights.