The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced that the Pakistan Super League (PSL) will be growing from six teams to eight teams starting in the 2026 season. This news came from a statement released by the PCB on Friday, stating that the upcoming 2025 season will be the last one with only six teams.
This decision was made after a long-standing agreement between the PCB and the current PSL franchises to wait until after the tenth season to add more teams. The only addition since the league started has been the Multan Sultans in 2018, making it a total of six franchises originally.
The process to decide which cities the two new teams will represent has not yet started. The expansion to eight teams is happening at the right time, as the current ten-year lease agreements with the current franchise owners will end in 2025. Even though the Multan Sultans joined two years later, their lease will also be up for renewal.
All six current franchise owners have the right to decide first if they want to keep their ownership by matching the value of their franchises.
An important issue for the future of the PSL is when the games will take place. The PSL games usually happen in February and March, but this time is taken up by the Champions Trophy next year, and other leagues like the ILT20 and SA20 leagues also want to play then. The PCB is thinking about moving the PSL to April and May, but that might overlap with the Indian Premier League (IPL).
