JUST A MATTER OF TIME

The Champions League final is set for a radical makeover after the marketing chiefs of Uefa visited the Super Bowl in the US for inspiration on how to transform the event.

The tournament, regarded by the European governing body as the fourth hottest property in sport, after the World Cup, Olympic Games and European football Championship, resumes next week with the last-16 knockout phase. Marketing chiefs have been casting their net wide for ideas for this year's final in Athens' Olympic Stadium on May 23 - also visiting the Heineken Cup, Tour de France and top tennis and golf tournaments to see how other sports maximise their impact.

Philippe Le Floc'h, Uefa's marketing and media rights director, said: "We went to the Super Bowl for a bit of inspiration." The US's mostly keenly anticipated sporting event has become an eight-hour extravaganza, with pre-game and half-time entertainment from the likes of Prince and the Rolling Stones, attracting a TV audience in the US of 93m and creating the country's second largest day of food consumption after Thanksgiving.

While the 72,000 fans at the Champions League final will not experience the sight of trucks driving on to the pitch to construct a half-time concert stage, Le Floc'h has plans to improve the entertainment and spectator experience in Athens as well as building the anticipation before kick-off.

The build-up to the final will begin in Athens on March 9, with the draw for the quarter-finals, when the mayor of Barcelona, current holders, hands over the trophy before it begins a tour of Greece and emerging Uefa markets in Asia. There will be an official launch of this year's design of the ball for the final and a young champions event and a five-day fan experience in Athens are also pencilled in.

For Le Floc'h, who joined Uefa six years ago from the sports agency ISL Marketing AG, the initiatives are a natural development in building the competition's brand identity. "It is the best club competition in the world. It is a competition of champions, the best clubs, and the best players in the world. We have to make sure that whoever comes to the stadium, or watches on television, can fully experience it."

The Champions League is already a carefully choreographed brand: synchronised Tuesday and Wednesday night kick-off times across Europe, the centre circle "star ball" logo display before kick-off and the upbeat theme tune that acts as an anthem in the stadium and the "sonic logo" marking advertising breaks on TV. "We thought about changing the music," says Le Floc'h. "But it is the second most recognised feature after the star ball and we get requests from all over the world for it to be used at weddings."

Le Floc'h says that viewers of formula one would be assailed by 220 commercial messages during a race. The number falls to 60 for a Premiership match, and about 50 for an international game. "With the Champions League, you are down to about 30 messages - you do not feel assaulted by advertising." Marketing revenues for the current season are expected to be €750m (£500m), an increase of€150m on the previous season.

About 80% of the revenues raised go to the clubs, one of the reasons why it has won around even the notoriously tetchy G14 big clubs which regularly indulge in breakaway talk. "They acknowledge the success story," Le Floc'h claims. "No one questions the rationale for the existence of the Champions League any more."