The buzz about the IPL keeps getting louder and teams owned by filmstars seem to have the clear edge. Cricketers and actors together combined can be quite heady. You saw the frenzy in Kolkata and Mumbai when Sha Rrukh Khan announced his team's name, colours, mascot, theme song and most importantly sponsors.

Shah Rukh Khan, Kolkata Knight Riders, said, "We are the only private limited company, which is trying to make a foray into this. So, it’s not that the sponsors will come up on board. I am begging sponsors to be on board, so that I can live this dream."

When Shah Rukh Khan turns on the charm it’s hard to resist. So, sponsors like real estate company Housing Development & Infrastructure, or HDIL, Reebok, Belmonte, and Tag Heuer are already on board. Kolkata Knight Riders, which only cost USD 80 million to assemble, seems to be a step ahead of other teams and has already thrown down the challenge.

Music Directors Vishal and Shekhar’s anthem for the team; six ads by Shah Rukh Khan’s company and a team mascot are already in place. All that is left is getting the cricket crazy people of Kolkata into Eden Gardens. Khan hopes he will get by with a little help from his friends.

"My fraternity will join up there and cheer the team and support it," Khan added.

But for those without stars thet going may not be as easy. They will have to rely mainly on the icon player. The action starts on April 18 at Bengalooru  where the home team will take on Kolkata Knight Riders.

The United Spirits Group, or USL, that calls its team the Royal Challengers has spent USD 116.5 million so far and has brought Reebok and Louis Phillipe on board as sponsors. Now, the challenge is to leverage it’s star cricketers within 10-days that the BCCI has allotted them.

Charu Sharma, CEO, Royal Challengers, said, "The band of cricketers that we got from Karnataka and in our catchment areas are very strong performers. Locally, they might send across a very strong message as well because they know the language, people know them a lot more, and their worth must not be underestimated particularly in the limited geography of our catchment area."

The teams are leading their communication through their ad agencies. The main campaign positioning the DLF IPL tournament as a place for players to pit their skills against each other for personal glory will help the teams. In turn, team campaigns will help the tournament. O&M that’s made this campaign is also working on the branding for Mumbai Indians.

Rediffusion DYR has shot the first commercial for Royal Challengers, while Leo Burnett will create Delhi Daredevils campaign, and McCann Erickson is collaborating with Mohali. Pressured for time, the IPL teams rush to get campaigns on air while the marketing effort will be a pan India exercise.

Ravi Krishnan, Vice Chairman, Emerging Media, Rajasthan Royals, said, "We were focusing on  fairly regions. Our overall strategy have also been to use the Internet and new media to tap into a global fan-base that we have. The global fan-base could consist of people from the region in which we are and the catchment areas that we are part of. Also, people were identified with their players and their team."

IPL Chairman Lalit Modi says three teams will make money, three teams will breakeven, and two will lose money in the first year. His money is on Kolkata’s Knight Riders and Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia’s Mohali team to book profits placing star power at a premium. But that’s not detouring companies like Reliance Industries that have spent over USD 120 million so far on the Mumbai Indians via subsidiary Ratipriya Trading or Delhi’s GMR Group that has spent USD 89 million on the Daredevils. As public listed companies with shareholders dissatisfy these companies are targeting a breakeven to start with.

Yogesh Shetty, CEO, GMR Sports, Delhi Daredevils, said, "The exercise of building the brand is going to continue for the next one-year. We have a commitment from GMR  and the stakeholders telling us this is something they believe in, because they want to be connected with it. We have a plan to it. That’s why I told you in the beginning itself that our plans to buy this franchise was not just opportunist. This is what we actually believe in and feel this is a viable business model."

R Balachandran, CMO and President, Reliance Retail, said, "Reliance doesn’t get into anything without looking at success. We don't look at survival or just being  part of a money spnner. That is something everybody knows about us. Looking forward, the first year is always a foundation or  platform on which things will be built."

Each city will host seven matches with the semi-finals and finals being held in Mumbai giving the Reliance Group the edge in terms of gate revenue. The tickets are expected to be priced at an average of Rs 200 to get people to the stadium or the marketing will have to finally build fan frenzy. So, who is everyone rooting for?

The first challenge for team owners is to built consensus in their own local areas. The team owners may have to fix that by having their players interact with these fans at various events across these cities. But there may not be enough time with the South Africa tour right around the corner, starting on March 26. So, merchandising and sponsorships will have to wait and fan connect will have to be their first priority.

Lalit Modi has clearly said that he expects only three teams to be profitable in the first year.