Things aren’t looking good for cricket in Pakistan. The men’s national team hasn’t been doing well, and now it seems the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) lost a ton of money putting on the ICC Champions Trophy. Word is they’re down USD 85 million (INR 869 crore) after hosting the tournament, where they only got to play one game at home.
Pakistan lost to New Zealand in Lahore in their first Champions Trophy match, then went to Dubai to play India. Their last group game against Bangladesh got rained out. Since they lost to both New Zealand and India, Pakistan was out of the tournament early, only playing that single home game.
According to The Telegraph India, Pakistan spent around PKR 18 billion (about $58 million) fixing up their three Champions Trophy locations – Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Karachi. These upgrades ended up costing 50% more than they thought they would.
The Pakistan Cricket Board also spent USD 40 million getting ready for the event. But they barely made any money back. They only got USD 6 million as a hosting fee, and ticket sales and sponsorships didn’t bring in much.
So, the report says the PCB lost about USD 85 million hosting the ICC Champions Trophy. You can see how this loss has messed with some of the board’s recent choices.
For example, they cut match fees for the national T20 championship by 90%, and payments for reserve players went down by 87.5%.
Pakistan’s Dawn reported that The PCB quietly reduced match fees from Rs 40,000 to Rs 10,000… but PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi stepped in, didn’t like the decision, and told the domestic cricket department to rethink it.
Even the players’ fancy 5-star hotels got swapped for cheaper ones.