PCB Faces Severe Financial Crunch, Pakistan In Big Trouble Ahead Of Champions Trophy As Cost Of Stadiums Escalate: Report

The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is just knocking on the door. Except for India's matches, Pakistan is set to host the remaining tournament starting from February 19.

PCB Overspends Champions Trophy Venues Budget

The Pakistan Cricket Board renovated the three venues, Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi in view of the upcoming marquee event and as per reports, the allocated budget has been overshot by a few billion rupees. According to a report in Dawn, as per the initial estimation, 13 billion was projected to be the total expenditure for the renovation. But the cost has increased to 18 billion, 5 billion more than the allocated budget.

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The additional budget has already been approved by PCB's Board of Governors and the report also stated that the board's chief financial officer has also approved an overdraft of 3-6 billion to meet the additional cost. The Dawn accessed a copy of the BOG meeting report which also revealed that most of the capital expenditures have either been postponed or cancelled in a bid to make room for the extra cost.

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PCB Exopects To Generate Substantial Revenue From ICC Champions Trophy

As per the report, PCB had cash reserves of 23 billion rupees in 2023. They were also forced to sell the broadcast rights and others for the next three years for a paltry 1.70 billion rupees which happened to be much lesser than the actual price quoted by the board. There will be more room for revenue as the PCB is now expected to renegotiate the terms with the six PSL teams as the ten-year contract will come to an end.

Moreover, PCB will also get substantial revenue from the gates sales from Champions Trophy games as they had signed an exclusive contract with the ICC.

The Champions Trophy will kickstart on February 19 as host Pakistan will take on New Zealand in the opening game in Karachi.