In May 2009 the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United replaced the Super Bowl for the first time ever as the most-watched annual sports event, according to a survey by Interpublic's Initiative Futures Sports and Entertainment.
While the TV audiences for both events continued to grow, the Barcelona v Manchester United game drew an audience of 109 million while the Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals drew 106 million in February that year.
The Super Bowl's audience was primarily domestic, the Champions League final faired better in the battle for viewers globally especially in the Asia-Pacific region.
3 years on and the Bayern v Chelsea final will be televised live on the free-to-air Fox network in the U.S. where, although still modest in comparison to Gridiron, viewership of the UEFA Champions League Final has exploded.
The 2011 final was the seventh straight year that English-language viewing increased in the U.S. Over the last 10 years, the audience has increased almost 10-fold, from 264,000 viewers on ESPN in 2002 to 2.6 million on FOX in 2011.
The 2011 Champions League Final is the highest-rated and most watched in U.S. history, drawing an audience of 4.2 million viewers nationally. Significantly, the 2011 match on FOX and FOX Deportes also bettered the 2009 match, which featured the same Barcelona and Manchester United clubs, by +24% on viewership (4.2 million vs. 2.1 million).
The stage is set for a night of drama in front of a huge global audience - this could be one of the last stands for Chelsea's old guard (Drogba, Lampard and Terry have a combined age of 98) while Bayern are on home ground seeking a 5th European title and to join Real Madrid and Inter Milan in becoming only the 3rd side in history to do that on their own manor.
Let battle commence, may the best team win and the game itself live up to expectation.
Kick off 18.45 GMT
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