Iran war fallout forces Pakistan Super League into empty stadiums and 2-city footprint

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The war in Iran is having a flow on impact on the biggest sports spectacle of the year in neighboring Pakistan.

It'll be like the COVID-19 era revisited for the Pakistan Super League, with no spectators allowed into games in the Twenty20 cricket franchise competition starting Thursday at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Cricket is the pinnacle of sports in Pakistan, just as it is in India and other parts of a subcontinental region of more than 1.5 billion people.

It's entertainment, it's business, and the PSL is the marquee domestic event. This year, it's starting days before the Indian Premier League, the world's most lucrative cricket competition, and competing to attract star players.

Yet there'll be no opening ceremony, no fans and the tournament will be contained to two venues rather than the original six.

The reason? The Middle East conflict has resulted in exorbitant hikes for fuel in the region, and Pakistan's government is urging people to restrict travel and to work from home.

So after years of building up the league, organizers are going back to basics.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi said it wouldn't be right to have 30,000 fans attending cricket matches every day while the government is asking the public to stay home.

“We decided that as long as this crisis is ongoing, we will not have crowds at matches," he said. "This was a difficult decision, but it needed to be made.”

Last year the Pakistan Super League and the Indian Premier League were suspended for a while during heightened military tensions, but both returned to action and completed seasons after the neighboring countries agreed to a ceasefire.

T20 cricket is the quickest form of the game at the elite level, can be finished within three hours and is designed for prime time TV.

That's important, because that's the only way regular fans will get to see the PSL.

As well as the last-minute decision to ban fans from attending, the league's organizers have also reduced the tournament to two cities – Lahore and Karachi – which will split 44 games in 39 days. Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Peshawar and Multan were scrapped as venues this season.

“PSL is reducing the wider logistical footprint associated with a multi-city tournament, including transport, venue operations, and utility demands, while ensuring continuity of Pakistan’s premier cricket event,” the Pakistan Cricket Board said.

That means players from at least three teams – Rawalpindi, Multan and Peshawar – will be away all season.

“It’s a real shame that we aren’t able to play at home — I guess that’s the nature of a few things that are going on in the world,” said New Zealander Daryl Mitchell, who was signed by expansion franchise Rawalpindi at the PSL auction.

Mitchell posted back-to-back ODI centuries at the Pindi Cricket Stadium three years ago and said he'd been savoring a chance to play there again.

“A number of us international guys have been part of the COVID bubbles back in the day where there were no crowds,” he said, reflecting on the tight security, physical distance regulations and empty stadiums for cricket events staged during the pandemic. “So I’m sure it may feel a little bit like that at times in the first few games.

“Let’s hope that toward the end of the tournament we can get some crowds in, and especially hopefully that the final can be packed out.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board has promised refunds for all tickets purchased in advance, and Naqvi said franchise owners would also be compensated.

While cricket fans generally understood the decision to go ahead with the tournament in just two cities, some still wanted to be there.

“I would have traveled to Lahore to support my Rawalpindi team,” said Hussain Mustafa, a graduate student. “I know it’s tough times for the country because of the fuel crisis, but tickets for at least half of the stadium should have been put on sale.”

Players from Australia, New Zealand, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe will join local stars competing in the eight-team tournament.

“I’m really looking forward to the new franchise and hopefully winning a few games of cricket for the Pindiz,” Mitchell said. “Hopefully we can put plenty of smiles on all the fans’ faces.”

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Groundsmen work at the at the Gaddafi Stadium in preparations for upcoming Pakistan's premier domestic T20 the Pakistan Super League, which will take place in empty stadiums due to the recent spike in oil prices, in Lahore, Pakistan, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

A motorcyclist drives past a billboard of Pakistan's premier domestic T20 the Pakistan Super League, which will take place in empty stadiums due to the recent spike in oil prices, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

A groundsman works at the at the Gaddafi Stadium in preparations for upcoming Pakistan's premier domestic T20 the Pakistan Super League, which will take place in empty stadiums due to the recent spike in oil prices, in Lahore, Pakistan, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Groundsmen work at the at the Gaddafi Stadium in preparations for upcoming Pakistan's premier domestic T20 the Pakistan Super League, which will take place in empty stadiums due to the recent spike in oil prices, in Lahore, Pakistan, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

A billboard of Pakistan's premier domestic T20 the Pakistan Super League, which will take place in empty stadiums due to the recent spike in oil prices, is displayed at a road in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has received an American 15-point plan for a ceasefire for the Iran war through intermediaries from Pakistan, officials in Islamabad said Wednesday. The proposal was sent even as Washington began to move paratroopers to the Middle East to back up a contingent of Marines already heading to the region.

Iran's military scoffed at the diplomatic efforts and launched more attacks Wednesday on Israel and the Persian Gulf region, including an assault that sparked a huge fire at Kuwait International Airport, sending black smoke billowing into the sky.

The Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release details, described the 15-point plan broadly as touching on sanctions relief, civilian nuclear cooperation, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, missile limits and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s attacks on regional energy infrastructure and its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and rocked world markets over fears of a global energy crisis.

At least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division will be sent to the Mideast in the coming days, three people with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.

The Pentagon is also in the process of deploying two Marine units that will add about 5,000 Marines and thousands of sailors to the region.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that American officials are in negotiations with Iran, though he hasn't said who they are in contact with. Iran's Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which commands both the regular military and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, suggested there are no talks.

“Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?” said Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for the headquarters.

“Our first and last word has been the same from day one, and it will stay that way: Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you,” Zolfaghari said in the video statement aired on state television. “Not now, not ever.”

Israeli officials, who have been advocating for Trump to continue the war against Iran, were surprised by the submission of a ceasefire plan, according to an official briefed on the proposal who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about it.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

The Israeli military announced it had begun new wide-scale attacks early Wednesday on Iran targeting government infrastructure, and witnesses reported airstrikes in the northwestern city of Qazvin.

Missile alert sirens sounded multiple times in Israel as Iran launched its own attacks, which have been a daily occurrence since Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war.

Iran also kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbors, with Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry saying it had destroyed at least eight drones in the kingdom's oil-rich Eastern Province, and missile alert sirens sounding in Bahrain.

Kuwait said it shot down multiple drones but one hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire, the General Civil Aviation Authority said. Firefighters were working to contain the blaze.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, has neared US$120 a barrel during the conflict but was trading at around $100 in morning trading as talks of a possible ceasefire helped calm prices. That’s still up nearly 40% from the start of the war.

Iran has allowed a small number of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, but none from the U.S., Israel or countries seen as linked with them.

Asked in an interview with India Today on Tuesday whether Iran was charging ships for passage, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said “absolutely,” but did not elaborate.

The 15-point plan now in Iranian hands is, in essence, “a comprehensive deal” to reach a ceasefire in the war, according to an Egyptian official involved in the mediation efforts.

In addition to proposing to fully open the Strait of Hormuz, it also includes restrictions on Iran’s missile program and its arming of armed groups, and is being treated as the basis for further negotiations between the nations, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the yet-publicized details of the proposal

Any talks between the United States and Iran would face monumental challenges. Many of Washington’s shifting objectives, particularly over Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, remain difficult to achieve.

Also, it's not clear who in Iran’s government has the authority to negotiate — or would be willing to, as Israel has vowed to continue killing the country’s leaders.

Mediators are pushing for a possible in-person talks between the Iranians and the Americans, perhaps as soon as Friday in Pakistan, the Egyptian official and the two Pakistani officials said.

However, that would require the Americans to immediately start traveling from the U.S. to be there in time. Meanwhile, Iranian officials likely remain worried about the Israelis, whose airstrikes in the war have killed many official, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran is also highly suspicious of the U.S., which twice under the Trump administration has attacked during high-level diplomatic talks, including with the strikes that started the current war.

“We have a very catastrophic experience with U.S. diplomacy,” Baghaei told India Today, adding that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had been in contact with Pakistani and other regional diplomats but that “there are no talks or negotiations between Iran and the United States.”

China, which sent a special envoy early in the war to push for a diplomatic solution, said Wednesday it supports all efforts to de-escalate the tensions and start peace talks.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Araghchi in a call Tuesday that all parties should “seize every opportunity and window for peace” so peace talks can start as soon as possible, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters Wednesday in Beijing.

Zolfaghari said that the U.S. was in no position to negotiate.

“The strategic power you used to talk about has turned into a strategic failure,” he said. “The one claiming to be a global superpower would have already gotten out of this mess if it could.”

Trump has said that special envoy Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance are already involved in negotiations.

Lebanese authorities say Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million.

Iran’s death toll has surpassed 1,500, its Health Ministry has said. In Israel, 16 people have been killed. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed, along with more than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states.

Madhani reported from Washington, Rising from Bangkok and Ahmed from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel and E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing contributed to this report.

Smoke rises from Kuwait international airport after a drone strike on fuel storage in Kuwait City, Kuwait, Friday, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo)

Smoke rises from Kuwait international airport after a drone strike on fuel storage in Kuwait City, Kuwait, Friday, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo)

Firefighters look on as volunteers and first responders inspect the rubble and search for victims at a residential building hit in an overnight strike during the U.S.-Israeli military campaign in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Matin Hashemi)

First responders inspect a destroyed car at the site of a residential building hit in an overnight strike during the U.S.-Israeli military campaign in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Matin Hashemi)