Figures for the 1996-97 UEFA Cham
pions League indicate that television
viewers take more and more interest in
the competition when the groups begin
to take shape. With five newcomers on
the starting grid, pre-season estimations
of audience figures were largely gues
swork. In some cases, logic pointed
towards a smaller audience in, for
example, France, where Auxerre, a
League baton form Paris Saint-Germain
a club with, theoretically, a much bigger
'catchment area'.
Yet TF1 report that audience figures
have snowballed. By the time AJ
Auxerre took on Grasshopper-Club in
Zurich on Matchday 4, the number of
viewers had increased by 900,000 in
comparison with Matchday 1, even
Fenerbahce's defender Halil Ibrahim battles with Manchester United's Norwegian striker, Ole Solskjaer,
in the first leg in Istanbul. Two weeks later, at Old Trafford, the Turks were the winners, watched by
more than 9 million viewers in England,
PHOTO: ROSS KINNAIRD/ALLSPORT
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