Circa 2007: a league-based format was conceptualised and launched in a sport where cheerleaders would dance on the sidelines, celebrity owners would strut around the stadium and a high-decibel media campaign would support all the razzmatazz that was packaged as entertainment under the veil of sport.

Seven years later, another sport is trying to ape that model. But the difference being you can masquerade anything under the name of cricket and it will sell – unless you’re Subhash Chandra and dare to start a similar league before the big bullies at Board for Cricket Control in India (BCCI) smash you out of the park. Remember how the Indian Cricket League (ICL) was launched a few months before the Indian Premier League (IPL) but was blown out of the water when BCCI threatened to ban the players who played in the rival league.

But this isn’t about the BCCI being a bully; this is about football’s attempt to emulate IPL’s success. Football is a peculiar sport in India. There is a fair share of passion in Kerala, West Bengal, Goa and the North East for local clubs. But ask most fans and they will tell you they care more about Manchester United, Real Madrid or Barcelona than East Bengal or MohunBagan. So while there’s certainly a great level of interest, it’s more for European leagues than domestic football. The Indian Super League (ISL), backed by MukeshAmbani’s Reliance Industries, IMG and Rupert Murdoch’s STAR India, wants to change that.

Four years ago IMG-Reliance signed a Rs 700-crore deal with the All India Football Federation (AIFF). It was supposed to help Indian football, and according to IMG’s website “IMG Reliance, in cooperation with the AIFF, will radically restructure, overhaul, improve, popularize and promote the game of football throughout India, from the grassroots to the professional level.”

It’s safe to say that – forget radical – none of the things mentioned above actually happened. Overhaul, improve, popularise? They do seem to have a sense of humour. What actually has happened is the ISL, and now that it is finally here, it’s the right time to ask, will it help Indian football? Can the I-League survive ISL? For instance, if the ISL actually takes off and become a success story, who will watch the I-League, which in any case fails to find many takers.

Football is not the first sport that wants to take a leaf out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) book. Badminton has tried – the Indian Badminton League lasted one season; golf tried its luck with Indian Golf League (IGL) in 2012 but there is no news of a second edition. Hockey has made several attempts to imitate IPL’s successful model and only the Hockey India League can claim to be a moderate success story.

The ISL so far has ticked all the right boxes. Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and RanbirKapoor are amongst the illustrious team owners. A high-decibel media campaign is on across TV channels. Superstars of yesteryears are giving quotable quotes every second day about how this will be a “game-changer”.

A literal imitation of IPL when it comes to the format – eight city-based franchisee teams, celebrity owners, marquee players – the ISL is set to begin on October 12. “It’s an experiment which should do well for the sport in the country,” tells me Larsing Ming, CEO of Northeast United FC, one of the franchises. Ming is also the secretary of Lajong FC, an I-League Club, and is hopeful that in the long-run I-League clubs will benefit from the ISL. But how much will it actually benefit the sport?

Let’s look at what the situation of football is in India. Domestic clubs bleed money, fans don’t come and watch the games in the stadiums(or on TV), stadiums are in poor conditions and the infrastructure is non-existent. Grassroots – a term that I think has been made mandatory whenever ISL is mentioned – development seems to be a strictly prohibited area. And let’s not even talk about the national team at the158^th position in the world: we can’t even beat Nepal and Afghanistan.

Truth be told, if the thought behind ISL is to emulate IPL then it should be off-the pitch because let’s face it, on the pitch the IPL is nothing but style over substance. The quality of cricket on show will put off most purists for good. If that wasn’t enough, the nauseous blend of glamour and entertainment in sport certainly will, and to a certain extent has done so.

The ISL unfortunately looks to tread on the same path – more style than substance. The so-called marquee players that teams have acquired are have-beens, semi-retired and looking for one last fat pay cheque before calling it quits. Delhi’s Alessandro Del Piero, a wonderful player for Italy and Juventus in his prime, is now 39 years old. He is the highest-paid player, earning reportedly a million pounds. Similarly, Luis Garcia, Atletico De Kolkata’s marquee player is 36, while Joan Capdevila of Northeast United FC is also the same age.

The ISL can’t be relying on these players to actually sustain interest, tells me an executive of a sports marketing firm working with the ISL. “Fans will come to see Del Piero once or two times but what after that. Sustainability will only come in if on the pitch the football is worth watching,” he adds.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF), whose flagship property I-League has been at loggerheads with ISL have finally caved in. The clubs had claimed that ISL would cannibalise their flagship property the I-League. However, a compromise was reached and the I-League is now on board.  “The ISL will have a positive effect on football in India. Both ISL and I-league can complement each other,” says Subrata Dhar, CEO, I-League, when I spoke with him.

Kushal Das, general secretary, AIFF, said that ISL clubs are committed towards grassroots (that word again) development and have to establish an academy in the first three years. “We don’t expect to be one of the top leagues in the world in the next few years. The ISL will give us exposure and visibility which we have been lacking for years,” he adds when speaking with me on the subject.

Visibility and exposure are arguably important but how does it stand to benefit the sport? In an interviewwith Reuters in May 2014, Churchill Brothers’ CEO Valanka Alemao said that if the structure was good she would have supported it.  What is needed is grassroots development, investment in infrastructure and youth. Novy Kapadia, football commentator tells me that there will be initial curiosity in all probability. “But after that sustaining it will be a challenge,” he says.

ISL clubs maintain that their long-term plan is to develop the sport and nurture talent. Mumbai City FC has plans to train 250 domestic coaches who will then train kids in the 6-12 age group. Other clubs have plans to rope in local talent and tie up with schools to promote the sport. Frankly, the talk of honing local talent and developing grassroots seems like lip-service that comes with any IPL- style of tournament. So far none of the clubs have formally announced their plans for the future. Rightly so, some would snigger and say. “This isn’t cricket and glamour won’t work here. Ask me two years later, if the ISL is still around, whether it is a good thing or bad,” saida media-planner with a Mumbai-based firm when I spoke with him.

Off the pitch, the ISL has managed to rope in big brands as sponsors. Hero India is the title sponsor. Maruti Suzuki has been named the associated sponsor in a deal estimated at Rs 8 crore. Pepsico, Amul, Puma, Muthoot Group are some of the other names which are amongst the official partners of the ISL.

The obvious, and more logical thing, would have been to strengthen the existing structure and clubs rather than create another competing event. The ISL might end up harming Indian football more than actually promoting it in the long run. Just like the IPL it’s more about money, glamour and entertainment rather than the sport. But the difference is that cricket can survive five failed IPL-styled events, football can’t.