While the relocation has undoubtedly damaged the big-spending and marketing-driven IPL financially, as no atmosphere can match a local Indian one, South Africa has not done badly - with the event seemingly inspiring the next generation of Graeme Smiths, Herschelle Gibbs and Makhaya Ntinis.
If a body as big enough to maintain an atmosphere - even a very light one - then it's a planet.
Few would disagree though that he was largely responsible for what has become known as Ambient - described by one writer as music which creates atmosphere, environment and space.
As the match reached its quite stunning conclusion, the British contingent on the hill sided with the unknown Croat, leaving one Aussie to describe "a pretty strange atmosphere - we're feeling a bit left out".
One is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which hovers in the atmosphere of every discussion involving Jews and Muslims, even when they are ostensibly comparing notes about Abraham, Noah and Moses.
In contrast to the upcoming conventions in Tampa, Florida, and Charlotte, North Carolina, the atmosphere was one of real, not canned, drama -- electric and unexpected.
And yet, the prevailing atmosphere among the passengers was one of optimism, thanks to the short-term solidarity that sometimes accompanies long-distance travel.
"The atmosphere on the 'hill' before the match was one of confidence - most people expected nothing other than a Murray win, " said Lydia Arman from Portsmouth.
Here is just one example: Single-celled marine plants produce fully half of all the oxygen in our atmosphere.
FORBES: Is the Great Barrier Reef Doomed? One of the World's Leading Coral Scientists Thinks So
The atmosphere among the fans I spoke to on the train here was one of apprehension - on both sides.
The intervening weeks will be spent in a manoeuvre called aerobraking, which involves using the air-resistance of the thin Martian atmosphere to change the elliptical initial orbit into a circular one from which the planet's surface can be examined in detail.
That one was expected -- but the same day, an unrelated, 45-foot space rock plunged into the atmosphere and exploded high over southwestern Russia, injuring an estimated 1, 200 people.
It is another to build one that can survive the fierce vibrations, G-forces and high temperatures of launch and re-entry into the atmosphere.
应用推荐