It seemed a strange thing to be discussing at the unveiling of a new domestic coach, yet it merely stood to show the trail of effect. The Cape Cobras are not even in the second instalment of the Champions League and their new coach Richard Pybus has no experience of it, yet the tournament soon came to dominate exchanges between Pybus, Cobras CEO Andre Odendaal and the local media on a sunny yet chilly July day in Cape Town.

In some ways it was a natural progression. Pybus' predecessor, Shukri Conrad, had lost his job despite securing a rare four-day title last season, and Odendaal was not going to pretend that priorities hadn't shifted. "We're very proud of the fact that we won the four-day competition," he insisted. "We want to be competitive and good at all formats, but I think you'd find very few franchises that aren't prioritising the Pro20 at the moment."

The reason is quite simple. "You just have to look at our annual financial statements - we've gone up from R11 million income last year to R17 million this year, which is obviously a record by far and there's only one reason for that which is the Champions League," said Odendaal, whose franchise reached the Champions League semi-finals last year. "It's introduced a whole new dimension into domestic cricket and new opportunities and we want to be there at the edge of it."

The importance of Champions League qualification for franchises in the countries involved has been clear since the prize money was announced, with a pot of $6 million available each year. Yet the tournament has done much more than just create a rat race in domestic Twenty20 leagues; it's also secured the financial futures of Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Cricket Australia (CA) for ten years, and continued to rake in money for the Board of Control for Cricket in India to a level where you wonder what they could possibly do with it all.

Of course none of those boards were in financial trouble to start with, so the extra money has allowed them to distribute it more widely and finance development throughout the system. That has meant more money even for those franchises that don't qualify for the Champions League, resulting in better facilities and an increasingly professional atmosphere.

So less than a year down the line, the financial effects of the competition are making themselves known and for some countries they are significant. Yet it's unlikely that many fans will look ahead to the start of a second instalment and see the action itself as the highlight of the cricket calendar. Given the time zone, Australians are unlikely to bother. India showed last year, with poor television ratings and ordinary attendances, that there's little interest in neutral matches. South Africa welcomed the IPL with surprising enthusiasm in 2009 despite little vested interest in the teams, but while we can expect reasonable crowds over the next few weeks the tournament is not seen as holding any great significance.

All of which suggests that if we were to judge a tournament by on-field vs off-field impact, the Champions League might well be the most distorted that cricket has known. Organisers expect it to take time to truly get off the ground so perhaps we shouldn't be too swift to judge, but if people don't tune in this year then it would appear that ESPN Star Sports, in putting up $1 billion for 10 years of tv rights, have paid over the odds.

Nevertheless it's money that cricket needs, so the three founding members need the tournament to work. There were some memorable moments last year, but aside from Trinidad and Tobago warming the hearts and a few youngsters such as Rilee Rossouw showing their potential there was a distinct lack of overall value. It's difficult to see that changing over the next few weeks, and if it doesn't then a rethink is in order. Twenty20 for the sake of it can only go on for so long before the bubble bursts.