The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) could face huge financial losses if the all-powerful ICC board decides to punish them for refusing to play the T20 World Cup match against India on February 15 in Colombo.
According to details collected by PTI, Pakistan’s share in the ICC financial cycle 2024/27 stands at around $144 million with a peak payout of $38 million distributed to the PCB annually.
“Basically if the ICC decides to penalize Pakistan for not playing IndiaThe PCB could take a big hit financially as ICC’s share in the current financial cycle is around PKR 40 billion,” said an insider.
He said that these 40 billion rupees have enabled the PCB to remain financially healthy, but if they are hit, it will spell financial trouble for Pakistan cricket.
He confirmed that Pakistan had already received significant shares from the ICC for the 2024 T20 World Cup and last year’s Champions Trophy, which it also hosted, and received an additional US$6 million from the total US$70 million budget for the tournament.
The insider said that PCB spent a lot on organizing the event and in terms of gate money, the sale of hospitality boxes did not make much.
However, Pakistan could only play one match at home as their clash with India was held at a neutral venue in Dubai as per the agreement signed between BCCI, PCB and ICC.
The PCB has spent around 18 billion rupees on the ongoing modernization work at the three stadiums in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi and this has also affected the board’s earnings from the Champions Trophy.
“The PCB is yet to get shares from this year’s T20 World Cup and next year’s Over 50 World Cup and that is where the ICC could impose financial sanctions,” he said.
He also explained that since the PCB was a signatory to the participating teams’ agreement at ICC events, in the absence of force majeure, the ICC and the broadcasters could enforce heavy financial penalties on the PCB and seek compensation.
He said that at a rough estimate, the broadcasters, who have paid the ICC US$3 billion in the current financial cycle, are heavily dependent on Pakistan-India matches to make a profit or break even as each match between the two countries is estimated to fetch them around US$250,000 million or more.
In the four ICC events in this cycle, broadcasters are guaranteed USD one billion from the four Pakistan-India matches. And if they are not held, it will lead to a substantial reduction in the shares distributed to member countries.
PCB’s other major sources of revenue on the surface include US$42 million in franchise fees starting with this year’s 11th edition of the PSL with the addition of two new teams.
The two new teams were sold for US$175,000 million (est. US$6.2 million) and US$185,000 million (est. US$6.65 million) respectively, with the PCB now earning around US$20 million in annual fees from them after revaluing the existing five of the six franchises.
The PCB will also auction the Multan Sultans franchise this month and following the trend set by the Hyderabad and Sialkot new team auctions, it could sell the Multan franchise for around $200 million, which equates to around $7 million included in the total annual franchise fees of around $42 million.
At the same time, the PCB distributes 95 percent of PSL’s central pool revenue from the sale of media broadcast rights, title sponsorship and advertising, and the franchises also get 90 percent of the total gate revenue.
Insider said the PCB’s income also includes money from the national team’s sponsorship deal and the sale of the national team’s domestic international and domestic cricket rights.
“But PCB also has huge expenses that include subsidizing domestic events, salaries and administrative costs, benefits for about 700 to 800 employees,” he said.
He also recalled that the Auditor General of Pakistan’s 2023 audit report pointed to problems with the receipt of annual franchise fees and in some cases the absence of bank guarantees.
The audit report also predicts a sizeable potential loss of Rs 10.751 crore for the board from the 7th to 12th edition, but that was before the two new teams fetched the board Rs 360 crore.
Another big expense for PCB is around US$5-6 million to pay monthly advances to contract players.
As of 2023, PCB does not bother to publish any annual audited financial report on its website, as is the practice worldwide.
T20 World Cup | T20 World Cup Schedule | T20 World Cup Points Table | T20 World Cup Videos | Cricket News | Live Score
– The end
Issued by:
Amar Panicker
Published on:
February 4, 2026
