Pakistan Cricket Board to rename Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium

The Pakistan Cricket Board has completed a deal worth Pakistan rupee 1 billion with a private bank to sell the naming rights of the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore for a period of five years.

The PCB is yet to officially announce the deal but insiders said it has been completed and like the National Stadium in Karachi, the Gaddafi Stadium will now also be named after the bank.

"The deal is for one billion rupees while the board had sold naming rights for the Karachi stadium for 450 million dollars,"

one insider said.

The cricket stadium in Lahore was named after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 1974.

PCB's former chairman and ex captain Ramiz Raja had started the process of selling naming rights of cricket stadiums in the country in 2021 and the Karachi stadium's deal was completed during his tenure.

The National Stadium is now known as the National Bank Cricket Arena.

The PCB, now headed by interior minister Mohsin Naqvi, wants to manage some of the costs of renovating three main stadiums in the country for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 through such deals.

"Naqvi also wants to increase revenue streams to support domestic cricket which will benefit Pakistan cricket," the source added.