Tackle! How Euro Football Foils U.S. Movies

The London Olympics are still more than a month away, but broadcasters and advertisers in Europe are already in full fan frenzy for another sporting event: the 2012 European Football Championship, which kicks off in Poland and the Ukraine on June 8. The competition between Europe's top national soccer teams is the Euro equivalent of a month of Super Bowl Sundays. Television market shares of 70 percent to 80 percent are not uncommon for matches, and European soccer governing body UEFA expects a global audience of nearly 5 billion, making the tournament the third-largest sporting event in the world, behind the Summer Olympics and soccer's World Cup.