PSL Franchises Push for a Lower Player Salary Cap as Costs Soar

During the most recent PSL Council meeting in London, a handful of franchise owners quietly raised a concern that has been bubbling under the surface for months: the player salary purse is simply too lofty for the financial realities they now face.

Represented by the PCB’s own chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, the meeting did not yield an immediate answer. Sources say Naqvi stayed silent on the matter, leaving the clubs to wonder whether their plea will ever be heard.

Since the league’s inception, the Pakistan Cricket Board has steadily lifted the base salary pool. Today, each franchise is allocated roughly $1.6 million (about Rs 450 million) to bid for players in the auction, with a possible stretch to $1.8 million (≈ Rs 505 million) if a team wants to directly sign an eligible foreign player who missed the previous season.

Under this structure, elite players can command up to $150,000, second‑tier talent around $80,000, third‑tier $40,000, and the fourth tier roughly $21,500. Those numbers, while attractive on paper, have become a strain for newer owners.

The timing of the request is no accident. This year saw three high‑profile franchise sales: Hyderabad went for Rs 1.75 billion, Rawalpindi for Rs 1.85 billion, and Multan Sultans fetched Rs 1.08 billion. In contrast, the five original owners who kept their teams managed to buy back at considerably lower valuations.

New owners, still settling into the business, say the inflated purchase price combined with the hefty salary commitment makes it tough to stay solvent. "We love cricket, but the numbers aren’t adding up," one insider whispered.

The financial squeeze isn’t limited to the franchises. The PCB itself is reportedly chasing unpaid dues from various league stakeholders, a situation that adds another layer of pressure on the whole ecosystem.

Whether the board will bite on the salary‑cap reduction remains uncertain, but the conversation has clearly entered the public arena. For a league that has grown spectacularly in popularity, finding a sustainable economic model now feels more urgent than ever.