Some interesting reading on EURO 2008. Really enjoyed the piece on Jens Lehmann.

6/8/08

Sporting Spectacles -- The most popular events on the planet
http://winnipegsun.com/Sports/Columnists/Wyman_Ted/2008/06/08/5809006-sun.html
Ted Wyman, The Sun (Winnipeg, Canada)

8. Champions League soccer final
An estimated 150 million viewers took in this year's final between Manchester United and Chelsea in Moscow and they were treated to a pretty good game, which came down to a shootout at the end. There would be more viewers if hooligans hadn't looted half the stores in Europe and broken all the TVs.

3. Euro soccer championship
At the last European soccer championship, in 2004, about 1.2 million people attended the event and it attracted an estimated 7.9 billion total views on television. Those numbers, of course, mean one guy could have flipped his TV on and off 7.9 billion times, but we somehow doubt it. Numbers may go down this year as England failed to qualify, but on the bright side, British pubs are doing a brisk business with fans drowning their sorrows.

1. World Cup of soccer
In Germany in 2006, 3.4 million people watched games live, millions more went to party and hang around outside the stadiums and the world tuned in like they have for no other sporting event. It's estimated that there were 26.29 billion duplicate views of the World Cup, which was one of the most memorable of all time, and estimates for the final between Italy and France are in the range of 700 million. Which means there are 700 million non-French people who think Zinedane Zidane is a butthead.

6/7/08

Euro 2008 gets royal treatment on TSN, Sportsnet
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080607.TRUTH07/TPStory/TPSports/Television/
William Houston, The Globe & Mail (Toronto, Canada)

6/5/08

Lehmann thanks England for lesson in tolerant living
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/footb...ing-840367.html
Glenn Moore & Johannes Berendt, The Independent (London, England)

6/3/08

Euro 2008 hits the small screen
http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/ci_9459978
Nick Green, The Daily Breeze (Los Angeles, CA)