Zimbabwe to tour Pakistan for ODI series

[ZIMDOGGY]

Now we know why he shortens his name to 'Ali'.

[Jemisi]

Not sure about this tour, but glad to see Campbell there in person

[foreignfield]

Not sure about this tour, but glad to see Campbell there in person

This statement is open to interpretation ...

[SpitfiresKent]

PCB face not finding enough interest in the sale of rights for Pakistan vs Zimbabwe series

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) may have got the green signal from the Zimbabwean security delegation to go ahead with its first ODI series at home since 2009 but it is still facing great difficulties in selling off various rights for the series. A high level security delegation from Zimbabwe headed by the CEO of Cricket Zimbabwe Alistair Campbell visited Lahore to oversee security arrangements for the series of three ODIs and two T20 matches later this month at the Gaddafi stadium. READ: Zimbabwe will put up a great fight when they tour Pakistan, says Dav Whatmore


Campbell later told the media that the tour by Zimbabwe was on and they were satisfied with the security arrangements put in place by the hosts. Zimbabwe will become the first test playing nation to visit Pakistan since March, 2009 when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore killing six policemen and a van driver.

But a PCB official admitted that they were not finding enough interest in the market for the series. “We see the series as a significant development for Pakistan cricket unfortunately the same is not the case in the market,” the official said. READ: Shoaib Malik hopeful of making international comeback in Pakistan-Zimbabwe series

An example of how low the sponsors or sports management companies are rating the series became evident last Monday when the PCB opened bids for sale of different rights including title sponsorship and ground rights. The board had set a reserve price of around $25,000 for the sale of text messaging rights for the series the best offer they got was $3,300.

The board had also set a reserve price of around $1.5 million for sale of all rights including ground and title sponsorship but they got only two bids priced at $250,000 and $150,000. The PCB has now revised its pricing and sent out letters to prospective bidders asking for a cut off price of around $ 1 million for sale of all rights excluding broadcasting rights.

“The board is finding it difficult to sell of rights for the Zimbabwe series and the reasons are obvious,” one marketing expert said. “Firstly Zimbabwe is not a crowd puller and secondly they are so many security issues with the tour sponsors or investors don’t want to invest large amounts in the venture,” he said.

Even the broadcaster of the series, Ten Sports is now trying to sell off media title and other rights by offering package including the Zimbabwe series and Pakistan?s tour to Sri Lanka. The PCB has had to shell out around USD 500,000 to pay for the expenses of the Zimbabwe team to make the tour possible. The amount includes match fees of the visiting players.

[Jemisi]

Not sure about this tour, but glad to see Campbell there in person

This statement is open to interpretation ...

Haha, sorry it was ambiguous.

I meant him no harm, just glad to see him go if he was going to send the players

[JHunter]

PCB face not finding enough interest in the sale of rights for Pakistan vs Zimbabwe series

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) may have got the green signal from the Zimbabwean security delegation to go ahead with its first ODI series at home since 2009 but it is still facing great difficulties in selling off various rights for the series. A high level security delegation from Zimbabwe headed by the CEO of Cricket Zimbabwe Alistair Campbell visited Lahore to oversee security arrangements for the series of three ODIs and two T20 matches later this month at the Gaddafi stadium. READ: Zimbabwe will put up a great fight when they tour Pakistan, says Dav Whatmore


Campbell later told the media that the tour by Zimbabwe was on and they were satisfied with the security arrangements put in place by the hosts. Zimbabwe will become the first test playing nation to visit Pakistan since March, 2009 when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore killing six policemen and a van driver.

But a PCB official admitted that they were not finding enough interest in the market for the series. “We see the series as a significant development for Pakistan cricket unfortunately the same is not the case in the market,” the official said. READ: Shoaib Malik hopeful of making international comeback in Pakistan-Zimbabwe series

An example of how low the sponsors or sports management companies are rating the series became evident last Monday when the PCB opened bids for sale of different rights including title sponsorship and ground rights. The board had set a reserve price of around $25,000 for the sale of text messaging rights for the series the best offer they got was $3,300.

The board had also set a reserve price of around $1.5 million for sale of all rights including ground and title sponsorship but they got only two bids priced at $250,000 and $150,000. The PCB has now revised its pricing and sent out letters to prospective bidders asking for a cut off price of around $ 1 million for sale of all rights excluding broadcasting rights.

“The board is finding it difficult to sell of rights for the Zimbabwe series and the reasons are obvious,” one marketing expert said. “Firstly Zimbabwe is not a crowd puller and secondly they are so many security issues with the tour sponsors or investors don’t want to invest large amounts in the venture,” he said.

Even the broadcaster of the series, Ten Sports is now trying to sell off media title and other rights by offering package including the Zimbabwe series and Pakistan?s tour to Sri Lanka. The PCB has had to shell out around USD 500,000 to pay for the expenses of the Zimbabwe team to make the tour possible. The amount includes match fees of the visiting players.

Unsurprising. Very few people will want to chuck large amounts of money into something like this until after it has been pulled off without incident. They certainly wouldn't want to pay $1 million and then find that after the first match the tour is abandoned due to security issues and then they have to go about trying to get most of their money back. In fact the low sums offered so far might well be a bet by investors that the tour will indeed be abandoned once it has started or that it will not actually occur.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

A helicopter full of diplomats and ambassadors was shot down in Pakistan today: http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-new ... 45421.aspx

This tour is not a good idea.

[SpitfiresKent]

A helicopter full of diplomats and ambassadors was shot down in Pakistan today: http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-new ... 45421.aspx

This tour is not a good idea.

This didn't happen in Lahore though and the article even says that it's not 100% that the helicopter was shot down.

Don't get me wrong, i'm still not fully at ease about this tour either but seeing Alistair Campbell and co in Pakistan this week has given me some sort of reassurance.

[eugene]

If, god forbid, anything does happen on this tour, Pakistan will not see international cricket for the next decade. PCB are taking a huge risk with this tour, if anything goes wrong that will be a huge setback for them.

[jaybro]

Niel Manthorpe tweeted that it's a 95% chance the tour will be cancelled .......

I think this would be best as much as I love watching the boys play I hope it's cancelled ......