Pakistan Cricket Board approved budget for 2025-26 session; PCB will spend billions of rupees in a year

On Thursday, the Pakistan Cricket Board approved a budget of Rs 18.30 billion for the current financial year. No reference to the budget estimate and revenues of the year 2025/26 was made. PCB expenses for reconstruction and renovation work for the Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi stadia for the ICC Champions Trophy in the previous budget remained around Rs 18 billion.

The Board of Governors met in Lahore to discuss and approve the budget, the PCB said in a release. This is an estimated Rs 18.30 billion for the current fiscal year. The board made no reference to the expenditure and the revenues realized from hosting the Champions Trophy and the qualifying match of the ICC Women's World Cup in Lahore in the prior fiscal year.

Without going into the details of the current fiscal year's budget, the board said it has also decided to annually recognise and reward the best-performing regional association in the promotion and development of cricket. It said the best-performing region under this initiative will receive an award every year. It was also decided that the performance of the staff will be regularly monitored going forward.

The Board of Governors expressed satisfaction over the utilisation of the 2024-25 fiscal year budget. In another meeting in Lahore on Wednesday, the PCB described this year's Pakistan Super League as a great success even though it was held alongside the Indian Premier League.

Pakistan Super League CEO Salman Naseer told representatives of franchise owners and title sponsors, broadcasters that live streaming views grew from 455 million in PSL-9 to 3.4 billion in PSL X.

This is a growth of 647.25%. Members were told that fans in Pakistan watched a total of 48.5 billion minutes on live streaming platforms. 511 million views were recorded during the playoffs and the final alone.