Will IPL be a huge success?

IPL (The Indian Premier League) - the term that has become synonymous with wealth and valuations. The total value of the league is pegged at $2 billion (Rs.8000 crore) and come April this event assumes significance marquee value among advertisers, broadcasting companies and viewers alike. Definitely the format has been well thought out by its showman Lalit Modi and definitely the hype and hoopla surrounding it will find its right answers with the show at the various cricket stadiums by the game's elite. The success of the format is assured with the presence of the best players from different teams of the world albeit a few unwilling to participate in the first format citing their own reasons. Even the valuations, Iam sure, will increase manifold by the end of the first saga of the league with more sponsors and celebrities pitching in for the various zonal teams based on their performances in the league. Individual players will find fresh contracts getting signed under different endorsements and its all money sloshing around everywhere. But for all this to continue into the future, sustaining spectator interest is the biggest objective in the hands of the BCCI. Yes, agreed, with the likes of Sachin tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Mathew hayden, Andrew Symonds, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Bret Lee and the array of stars ready to play, pulling in the crowd should be a walk in the park for the authorities. But with a player ratio of 7 Indians:4 foreigners , the Indianness in any team is lost. Now with 4 foreign players of star value and 2-3 Indian players of respectability, there's more than enough for the spectators to chew but the passion and the fervour that you associate with a spectator watching a match that India plays will definitely be missed. Crowds will come on weekends to watch good entertainment but these crowds will only get to see balls getting thumped around the dusty grounds of our country. There will be no nail biters, humdingers, people who generally flock to the stadium with intense passion to watch even a test match would prefer to watch these fast food matches on Tv. Without a complete Indian XI, will the crowds of the respective zones/cities be able to identify with the foreign players as one amongst their own is a big question in the minds of sports analysts. Branding and cutting edge marketing would definitely try it's best to address such issues.
All said and done, as far as the stock markets are concerned, one will soon find these teams jostling for space among the "A" category stocks by listing themselves on the exchanges. For eg. If Chennai Super Kings does extraordinarily well and clinches the title for the first tournament, Iam sure Indian Cements, the franchise that owns Chennai would not think twice before spinning of this team into a separate corporate subsidiary and getting it listed on the bourses. Each player of Super Kings would be given shares in the company just like ESOP's and that will be a great incentive for players to do well in future to improve the valuations.
The same kind of format can also be explored for Cinema in the case of big budget movie releases of SRK or a Rajnikanth. There should be a futures market for movie tickets of cinemas to be released at a future date. Just like an option, the ticket prices can be traded on based on developments at each and every stage of movie making. Contracts can be designed to begin from the date of movie launch until its release or say a week after its release. A positive verdict at the box office can push premiums up even further. This can also be thought of as a financially innovative product by the cine industry as it also leads to financial deepening and better price discovery for producers and distributors. These kind of exotic products are much better than the other form of exotic derivatives like CDO's (collateralised debt obligations) and CDS (Credit Default Swaps) which have only led to financial disaster world over.
Have i set anyone thinking???