Status of UEFA Champions League bolstered by the make-up of its final four in 2010 tournament

The UEFA Champions League has emerged this millennium as the world's biggest annual sports tournament. The European club championship is already the most important annual event in soccer. Its final match is now the most-watched single-day sports event on the planet, steadily growing in recent years to finally surpass the Super Bowl in worldwide television audiences in 2009.

Yet the UEFA Champions League still has considerable upside and will continue to gain clout and worldwide appeal in this and the coming years.

First, it will grow a larger television footprint on the strength of a weekend date for the finale, which moves from its typical mid-week slot to this year's championship match on Saturday, May 22nd, in Madrid. The worldwide television audience will also get a boost as the title match jumps from cable to FOX in the United States.

Second, it will gain more traction -- especially outside of Europe -- this year as all things soccer benefit from the global spotlight created by the 2010 FIFA World Cup. European club stars are bound to play leading roles in the theatre to be staged June 11th-July 11th in South Africa and that will only increase the number of those following UEFA member clubs in 2011 and beyond.

Yet arguably the most important boost to the profile of the UEFA Champions League will come from the make up of its final four and, ultimately, its championship pairing next month.

After having clubs from the Barclays English Premier League dominate the later rounds of the Champions League in recent years -- including last year when three English clubs reached the semifinals before FC Barcelona upset Manchester United in the finale -- the final four of the 2010 tournament features clubs from four different European leagues (for the first time in six years).

Represented in the semi-final stage April 20-21 and April 27-28 are titleholder FC Barcelona of the Spanish Primera Liga, Bayern Munich of the German Bundesliga, InterMilan of the Italian Serie A and Olympique Lyonnais of the French Ligue 1.

In a year in which CSKA Moscow and Russia were also represented in the quarter-finals, spanning Europe that way in the semifinals will only increase television, media, sponsor and fan interest throughout the continent. Moreover, around the world, it will create intrigue among millions of transplanted and second and third generation Spanish, German, Italian and French fans -- not to mention Brazilians, Argentinians and fans of the other internationals on those clubs.

That can only mean increased brand equity for UEFA and its Champions League competition this year and in the immediate future. It's a case of the popular gaining popularity and the strong getting even stronger.

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NFL and The Who cross-promote CSI for CBS

Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend wrap their set at

the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLIV Halftime Show

Sunday at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. (Photo: Bethie Curley)

When the National Football League began considering who should perform at this year's Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, The Who was suggested as a natural fit given the league's recent predisposition towards iconic rock acts for its halftime show.

Most would agree they'd belong in the conversation with Paul McCartney (Super Bowl XXXIX at Jacksonville, Fla. in 2005), the Rolling Stones (Super Bowl XL at Detroit in 2006), Prince (Super Bowl XLI at Miami in 2007), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Super Bowl XLII at Glendale, Arizona in 2008) and The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen (Super Bowl XLIII at Tampa in 2009).

Along with Aerosmith (Super Bowl XXXV at Tampa in 2001) and U2 (in their moving 9/11 tribute during Super Bowl XXXVI at New Orleans in 2002), The Who is among the legendary bands of the 1970s and 1980s still rocking after all these years. That makes raspy lead vocals by Roger Daltrey and windmill guitar work by Pete Townshend resonate as a blast from the past with the boomer generation while still being relevant to the core Generation X NFL demographic and at least intriguing as historic rock'n'roll curiousities to the young adults in Generation Y and the young teens making up Generation Z.

Yet make no mistake: The Who earned the nod mainly because Super Bowl XLIV U.S. television rightsholder CBS loved the idea.

Giving The Who the high-profile gig made CBS Entertainment a happy camper because it would effectively cross-promote three of its most valuable television properties in one flick of the guitar pick: CSI and the Crime Scene Investigation trio. That's because The Who licensed their music to all three shows produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Paramount Television.

The original CSI (created in 2000 by Anthony E. Zuiker and still running strong Thursday nights at 9 p.m. PT on CBS in the U.S. and CTV in Canada) opens with about 40 seconds of Who are You?, the 1978 classic considered among the top-100 (#97) on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time.

Its first spin-off CSI: Miami (launched in 2002 and running Mondays at 10 p.m. PT on CBS and CTV) begins with Won't Get Fooled Again, The Who's 1971 anthem that ranks #133 on the Rolling Stone Top 500. CSI: New York(which made its debut as the third in the trio of crime dramas and airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. PT on CBS and CTV) features Baba O'Reilly, another 1971 song (#340)by The Who.

We first raised The Who/CSI/CBS connection with Blake Price on The Blake Price Show on Vancouver sports radio TEAM 1040 on November 27th, the day after the NFL Network announced the selection of the 2010 halftime show headliners during a Thursday night showdown between the Oakland Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys.

So when Townshend leaked the Super Bowl set list in an interview with Billboard two weeks before the February 7th game on CBS and CTV, it should have surprised no one that Baba O'Riley, Who Are You? and Won't Get Fooled Again were part of the plans for Miami.

The Who followed Townshend's Billboard promises to a tee. Before a capacity crowd of 74,059 at Sun Life Stadium and a record North American television audience of 114 million on CBS and CTV, they opened the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLIV Halftime Show with Pinball Wizard and did a short segment from the close of Tommy. Yet it was nothing but CSI theme music the rest of the way.

Baba O'Riley was first up among the CSI themes. Then came Who Are You? and the quick "See Me, Feel Me" from Tommy. The ending was perfectly-scripted. As the theme song for CSI: Miami, The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again was the natural finale as an ode to the host city.

The 12-minute set was solid, arguably strong enough to knock off Diana Ross and comfortably rank among the top-10 Super Bowl halftime shows of all time. Performed on a wildly-impressive stage that starred in its own right and provided a modern light show extravaganza, the set served the event and its television audience well.

More than anything, though, it stoked host broadcaster CBS and its Bruckheimer-produced CSI franchise -- not to mention CTV as the Canadian rightsholder to both the Super Bowl and CSI -- in a brilliant medley of cross-promotion and co-branding.

It's much more likely he'll be owning a National Hockey League franchise in Las Vegas sometime soon, but it almost makes you wonder how long before Pete Townshend's guitar windmill from Sunday's Super Bowl XLIV re-starts the rumour windmill about Bruckheimer getting himself involved in the return of the NFL to Los Angeles later this decade.

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