PSL CEO: We want to go global to become world's best T20 league

The Oak Room in the Plaza Hotel is one of New York's most opulent rooms. Over the last 100 years, it's provided a lavish stage for business elites to mingle against a backdrop taken straight from a Bavarian renaissance castle. Last week, under its 20 foot-high ceiling from which hangs a palatial chandelier, and surrounded by pillars of oak imported from European forests, a new group of elites occupied the grand old space.

This was the second stop on a roadshow designed to shape a decade of expansion for the Pakistan Super League. Ahead of the next edition, two new teams will be added to the existing six, with franchise rights set to be awarded at an auction in Islamabad on January 8. All of currently owned teams in the PSL are owned by individuals or consortiums from Pakistan. For its two new teams, however, the PSL is looking to tap into the Pakistani diaspora to anchor the league across the world.

"Over the last 10 years the focus has been Pakistan because we were trying to bring international cricket back to Pakistan and the PSL was a tool for doing that," PSL CEO Salman Naseer tells Wisden.com. "The next decade is about making it a global league... The majority interest is from overseas Pakistanis looking to re-connect, some investment hedge funds, some private equity funds were also interested, and they also want to explore larger opportunities. But at the moment, we are looking at two teams and commercial rights."

Naseer stood alongside PCB chairman Mohsin Iqbal in the Oak Room, as they pitched to a room full of interested parties. So many that Naseer says they had to repeat the pitch to potential investors who showed interest after the space was booked. A similar event was held at Lord's a few days before. London and New York, two cities with the largest Pakistani communities outside the Middle East, and two of the richest cities in the world.

"I think what we’re trying to put out there and what is true, is that Pakistan is open for business," says Naseer. "And the narrative around Pakistani cricket has now changed: It’s not about surviving, it’s about thriving."

'We have to make the PSL the biggest league in the world'

The PSL started 10 years ago as a five-team competition, with the IPL already established as a gigantic presence across the border. All of the matches in its inaugural edition were played in the UAE, and it was five years before an entire tournament was held within Pakistan. The national side was also in transition, feeling the effects of international cricket's absence from Pakistan for well over a decade.

As the league was ready to kick on and embed home franchises within their already dedicated fanbases, Covid struck and the competition faced new challenges. New competitions, flush with IPL team-owner money, have increasingly crowded its window in between the international schedule. Last year, the Champions Trophy forced it into direct competition with the IPL.

Nevertheless, amid all of those challenges, including the interruption of the India-Pakistan conflict earlier this year, the league's commercial trajectory has skyrocketed. The value of its international media rights have increased by 300 per cent since 2015, and last year's season alone attracted 3.4 billion views on live streaming services. The new glamorous stars of Pakistan cricket - Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and the rest - added new commercial value, new heroes on billboards around the country.

But that, Naseer insists, was just the first stage. Now that it's established, the league is looking to expand.

"We have to make it the best league in the world," says Naseer. "With foreign players participating, a huge Pakistani diaspora outside of Pakistan, the aim was that if we are going to make it the best in the world then it has to have a global outlook.

"We are a cricket nation who are so passionate about the sport that it’s almost a religion. You don’t just own a franchise when you buy a team, you are the most talked about person out of 250 million people."

It's an expansionist goal to take on the might of the IPL, with multiple teams in leagues around the world now baring brands forged in the league which made it all possible. But perhaps it's not as fanciful as that statement of intent suggests. Pakistan players don't feature in the IPL, and crackdowns on NOC's from the PCB have limited the scope to see the country's biggest stars play elsewhere. While the IPL remains the gatekeeper of the best overseas players in the world, it's new stricter policies on overseas players pulling out of the competition may work in the PSL's favour if it remains in direct competition.

"I think it still is [a more attractive option than the IPL]," says Naseer. "The unique selling point of our league is the fact that it’s short and sweet, and it peaks at the right time and concludes thereafter, so it provides an option to definitely compete rather than sitting on the bench. It provides relatively decent remuneration if you look at it per match value rather than collective data."

While the PCB's hands were tied this year in scheduling the tournament alongside the IPL to avoid a clash with the T20 World Cup, next year the February window should open up again. However, if the PSL backs itself to go toe-to-toe with the IPL, going up against it would be the ultimate display of that confidence.

'A Pakistani league to its core'

While the meetings in London and New York this month set out lofty aims, that expansion is of an inherently Pakistani product.

"The thing about the PSL is, at its core it’s a Pakistani league and the focus is always going to be on the Pakistani players," says Naseer. "The international players add flavour and will always be welcome, but the primary focus for the PSL has been threefold. One was to bring international cricket back to Pakistan, which has been achieved. The second was for it to act as a tool for nursing and nurturing and developing cricketers in Pakistan, and for it to act as a pathway for the national team. And the third was for it to be an independent revenue stream for the PCB irrespective of international cricket governance."

The ultimate success of the league will be its ability to act as a training ground for young T20 stars in Pakistan, in a similar way to the IPL academies and finishing schools in India. After reaching the knockouts of the T20 World Cup twice in a row before the 2024 edition, Pakistan have slipped to seventh in the ICC T20I rankings. The chaos which often engulfs the PCB governance and bleeds onto the field has some part to play in that, and the extent to which the PSL can counter that instability is limited.

Infighting has also had a part to play in the PSL. Multan Sultans owner, Ali Tareen, was embroiled in a public feud with the league's administrators, and announced that he would not be renewing his ownership of the franchise alongside the original five team-owners this year. "I would rather lose this team while standing on my feet than run it from my knees," read his parting shot on social media, in which he also mentioned "year after year" financial losses. Tareen regularly criticised PSL management during his time as Multan Sultans' owner, and released a video of himself tearing up a legal notice sent to him by the PCB earlier this year.

"I’ll not publicly comment on the situation because it shouldn’t be used as a medium to de-value the league, which is what they tried to do," says Naseer. "But it hasn’t detracted anyone from wanting to be part of the [team-buying] process.

"A lot of the questions that we’re getting is – we're interested in the two new teams, but what about Multan Sultans? Because obviously it has an existing fan following and brand value. A lot of the investors want to directly invest in buying that team as opposed to the two new ones, for which they’ll have to work harder. We will have a decision with respect to how and what we plan to do with it in the coming weeks."

There are other plans in the works to set up the league for its next stage both at home and around the world. Stadiums are set for a major upgrade, a brand new platform designed to keep up with evolving viewing habits has been set up, and other streams of revenue are being investigated. The strength of those existing foundations allowed the PSL to make the leap to start its new chapter in the Oak Room on the other side of the world last week, and where it goes from there will become clear over the coming months.

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