$21million catch for Pakistan cricket board

Cricket carnival to include food festivals, shopping melas

PCB Chief Executive Rameez Raja told Business Standard from Lahore that the board was expecting to rake in $21 million through the sale of marketing rights, including telecast rights, title sponsorships, co-sponsorships and stadium advertisements.

More money will flow in through ticket sales, though the numbers will not be as large. "We want to keep ticket prices low so that more people can afford to come to the grounds," Raja said.

On its part, India Inc is lapping up anything on offer, expecting the series to break all viewership records. According to Nimbus Communications Ltd Chairman Harish Thawani, the rights for co-sponsorship, stadium advertising and mobile telephony (SMS and MMS) were sold out within 24 hours. "Nobody wants to miss out on the action," Thawani said.

The PCB has cut a deal with www.cricinfo.com for online sale of tickets so that Indians can watch the series in large numbers.

Special promotions involving Bollywood stars and former Indian cricketers, who will be on a special invitee list, food festivals, kite festivals, flower shows and shopping melas will coincide with the tour to create a carnival centering on cricket.

Raja expects around 5,000 people to cross over from India and wants to make sure they have no complaints.

"In Lahore, for instance, the extravagant kite-flying festival will be going on during the tour. Then, there are other cultural aspects that can be linked to the tour like, food festivals, flower shows, shopping melas, among other things," he said.

Currently, the PCB and the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) are finalising the tour itinerary and more such marketing initiatives""some of these could be joint efforts""will be finalised thereafter.

Raja said the tour would be promoted as a 'Friendship Cup'. "Emotions will run high during the matches. But we do not expect any flare-up. Bonhomie will prevail," he said.