[Leica] Most watched sporting event - definitive answer

[lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

The largest global TV audience in 1997 was 2.5 billion for the funeral of
Princess Diana.
Largest TV audience for sports broadcasts are:
Leading the field is the semi final match between India and Pakistan at the
2011 cricket world cup, which was watched by over 1 billion people
Second is the FIFA World Cup Final, which attracted more than double the
global audience of any other sporting event in 2006. The Italy vs.France
match was watched by an average live global audience of 260 million people,
with more than 600 million people tuning in to watch at least some part of
the match.
In second place was the NFL Super Bowl, relinquishing its number one ranking
from 2005. The match between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle
Seahawks drew an average live global audience of 98 million in 2006, an
increase on the 93 million who watched the Super Bowl last year.
The Opening Ceremony of the IOC Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, comes in
at third place, drawing an average live global audience of 87 million.
However, when comparing total audience numbers as opposed to average, more
people watched the Opening Ceremony than the NFL Super Bowl. 249 million
people tuned in to snatch a glimpse of the Opening Ceremony at some point,
compared with only 151 million for the Super Bowl.

Larry Z