Everybody, of course, knows that the World Cup is big. But Germany realized on Friday just how big. Some 350 million viewers tuned in to watch the draw and the event went off without a hitch. After all, it was planned down to the last details -- including a bit of censoring. Soccer, its detractors would have it, is just 22 sweaty men chasing a ball around a field. On Friday evening in the Leipzig Convention Center, though, it was clear that there is more to the game than that. It was the day of the final draw for the soccer World Cup and the stage -- complete with a pedestal on which the 13 bowls used in the lottery -- is set up for the pomp and circumstance of the event. And its sheer size. The studio stage -- all 4,800 square meters (51,612 square feet) of it -- holds the most cameras (25) and features the biggest projection screen (106 meters, or 348 feet) in the history of German television. The 116 tons of spotlights and loudspeakers suspended from the ceiling are also a first. In the end, it was the most spectacular World Championship final draw ever -- a show that fits the image of global soccer. It was also a spectacle that gave Germany -- a country which, in recent years, has provided the image of a country tightening its belt, a place where frugality trumps big spending when it comes to hip-ness -- an opportunity to take center stage. And when 32 teams were divided into eight four-nation groups, the country got its first taste of the magnitude and importance of next year's World Cup.
Soccer, its detractors would have it, is just 22 sweaty men chasing a ball around a field.
On Friday evening in the Leipzig Convention Center, though, it was clear that there is more to the game than that. It was the day of the final draw for the soccer World Cup and the stage -- complete with a pedestal on which the 13 bowls used in the lottery -- is set up for the pomp and circumstance of the event.
And its sheer size. The studio stage -- all 4,800 square meters (51,612 square feet) of it -- holds the most cameras (25) and features the biggest projection screen (106 meters, or 348 feet) in the history of German television. The 116 tons of spotlights and loudspeakers suspended from the ceiling are also a first. In the end, it was the most spectacular World Championship final draw ever -- a show that fits the image of global soccer.
It was also a spectacle that gave Germany -- a country which, in recent years, has provided the image of a country tightening its belt, a place where frugality trumps big spending when it comes to hip-ness -- an opportunity to take center stage. And when 32 teams were divided into eight four-nation groups, the country got its first taste of the magnitude and importance of next year's World Cup.
