Pakistan vs England schedule confirmed, PCB in race against time to find sponsor
July 7, 2020
Pakistan’s tour of England will start on August 5 with three Tests, the two countries’ cricket boards confirmed on Monday. Before the Tests, England will play three ODIs against Ireland on July 30, August 1, and 4 respectively in Southampton. The Test series will be followed by three T20Is at Old Trafford scheduled for August 28, 30 and September 1.
However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), feeling the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, is in a race against time to find a main sponsor for the national team.
A well-placed source in the PCB said that negotiations were continuing with the one multi-national beverage company, which had shown interest in signing a new team logo sponsorship deal but had offered an amount far below the expectations of the board’s marketing pundits, according to PTI.
“The PCB’s deal with the beverage company expired recently and the board invited fresh bids for the national team’s main logo sponsorship deal but no one submitted any bids except for the same beverage company,” a PCB source was quoted as saying.
He said the company had offered only 35 to 40 percent of the amount it had earlier paid to the board in their last contract.
“It is a problem but negotiations are still on but it is becoming clear that the coronavirus outbreak has even hit the multinational companies badly,” he said.
The PCB’s marketing department has also failed to find sponsors for its revised domestic structure and for the second season running it has been forced to bear all expenses of the 12 provincial teams in the division one and two competitions.
The PCB is hopeful that they will get a sponsor on board before the beginning of the England series because if they don’t find a new team sponsor, it will also badly hit the earnings of the players who get roughly 75 percent of the total annual amount received by the board from the main team sponsors.
