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LAHORE: The ownerless franchise of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) Multan Sultans has received six bids ahead of the auction, the league’s social media handle confirmed on Monday.
The announcement was made via PSL’s social media accounts, revealing the total number of bidders for the franchise auction.
“The numbers are in. Six bids submitted for Multan Sultans,” the caption of the post read.
On 14 January 2025, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) formally initiated the process to sell the ownership rights of the PSL franchise Multan Sultans, issuing an advertisement inviting interested parties to submit bids for the auction.
The PCB confirmed that bids are being sought for the franchise rights of the 2021 PSL champions. The deadline for submitting documents for the technical proposal was originally set for January 30 and was later moved forward.
The process began after the departure of Multan Sultans’ former owner, Ali Tareen, who announced in November that he was stepping away from the franchise.
The reason for Tareen’s departure was strained relations with the PCB that had persisted for over a year, ultimately reaching a point of no return.
Subsequently, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced that the board would assume control of the franchise upon expiry of the existing ownership agreement on December 31, 2025.
The initial plan was for the PCB to operate the team for a year before auctioning it in 2027.
However, strong valuations achieved in the recent auction are understood to have encouraged the PCB to proceed with the sale of Multan Sultans earlier than planned.
The landmark auction, held at the Jinnah Convention Centre last month, saw FKS Group and OZ Developers acquire the newly added franchises from Hyderabad and Sialkot for Rs1.75 billion and Rs1.85 billion, respectively, expanding the PSL to eight teams from season 11.
For the unversed, the PSL 11 is set to kick off from 26 March with the auction to take place on 11 February.
