MUMBAI: Finally a definitive statement from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) itself as to what reveunes it expects to rake in from the historic Indian cricket tour that kicks off on 10 March.
PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan, at a media briefing in the Pakistan port city of Karachi on Saturday, said the board had signed sponsorship deals worth $21 million. Khan has been quoted by the Pakistani media as saying another $ 1 million was expected from ticket, hospitality boxes and vending rights sales.
The PCB chief, flanked by PCB financial consultant Riaz Mahmood and legal advisor Ahmed Hussain, clarified to reporters at Karachi's National Stadium that Dubai-based Taj Entertainment Network (which runs Ten Sports) had paid $ 13.3 million for the television rights of the series and not $ 9 million as has generally been quoted. Khan explained that the terms of the deal that Ten had signed with the PCB was for a three Test and three One Day International series. Since this tour involved five ODIs, the PCB was able to get Ten to cough up an extra $4.3 million. If the math looks a bit wonky here, it is not surprising, because math probably had little to do with the calculations at work.
There had been a huge media debate within Pakistan as to whether the PCB had been shortchanged in the deal considering the kind of frenzied interest there was in the series. It had even led to a rather farcical situation wherein the ousted general manager marketing Zahid Bashir (who had no locus standi in the matter anymore) made a trip to India and had meetings with executives of pubcaster Doordarshan and some private playesr as well. Bashir even held press briefings claiming he had offers/approval from some Indian television companies to buy the telecast rights of the series for $ 13 to $ 14 million.
The following is the break-up of who is paying the the PCB what, as reported by Pakistan's The News in its Sunday edition:
*Ten Sports exclusive broadcaster - $ 13.45 million (includes additional $300,000 Ten agreed to pay PCB for live video streaming rights and $150,000 for live radio broadcasting).
*Electronic major Samsung title sponsor - $ 4 million.
*Hero Honda co-sponsor - $ 1,491,000.
*World Sport Nimbus In-stadia advertising (unrestricted) and mobile telephony rights - 1,389,000 ($ 1,287,000 In-stadia and $ 102,000 telephony rights for India only).
*Madison Outdoor Media Services (MOMS) In-stadia advertising (restricted) - $383,800.
*Ticket, hospitality boxes and vending rights sales - $ 1 million.
The News quotes Riaz Mahmood as saying Indian companies would be contributing one third of the earnings from sale of title, co-sponsorship and ground signage rights. "Their share comes to above $ 7 million in the total of $ 21 million," he said.
