PCB chief vows to turn Multan Sultans profitable ahead of next PSL auction

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi said on Thursday that the Pakistan Super League’s loss-hit franchise Multan Sultans would be turned into a profitable team before being put up for auction next year.

Addressing a ceremony held for the auction of the seventh and eighth PSL franchises, Naqvi said he had taken it as a personal challenge to counter claims circulating on social media that the Multan Sultans were operating at a loss.

“I took a challenge because there were a lot of claims on social media that the team was in losses,” he said. “So I, and all of the team, decided that we will show how much profit this business offers and publish the numbers before going for the auction.”

Naqvi, along with newly announced team owners Fawad Sarwar and Hamza Majeed and PSL Chief Executive Officer Salman Naseer, reiterated that the PCB would run the Multan Sultans for the upcoming 11th edition of the PSL before auctioning the franchise.

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He acknowledged suggestions to auction the Multan Sultans alongside the two new teams sold earlier in the day, but said he deliberately chose to retain the franchise for one season to demonstrate its commercial potential.

“The pressure has started to be built up on me to sell out the team,” he remarked humorously, referring to Naseer. “But my wish is to operate Multan Sultans for one year, and I’m very much hopeful that we will leave it in profit so the world gets to know that it’s a plus-plus business.”

Earlier, the PSL officially expanded to eight teams after Hyderabad and Sialkot were confirmed as the league’s seventh and eighth franchises following the completion of the expansion auction.

OZ Developers, owned by Hamza Majeed, secured ownership of the eighth PSL team with a bid of Rs1.85 billion and named it after Sialkot during the second round of the auction. The base price for the eighth franchise was set at Rs1.70 billion, after the FKS Group acquired the first franchise on offer for Rs1.75 billion.

The development marks a major expansion for the PSL, as the PCB aims to strengthen the league’s financial sustainability and long-term growth.