Budweiser has released an ad that will air during this Sunday's 2017 Super Bowl that nods to the heated debate over immigration. The television commercial shows the dramatized journey of a German man that results in the creation of the Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI) company that owns the Budweiser beer brand.

Last year the Superbowl had an estimated audience of 111.5 million viewers. But world over there is an audience for sport, just different sports. This post we’re going to look at the biggest sporting events in the world, at least by television audience size.  One, because it’s fun. And two, because public diplomacy is always in search of audiences, and these sporting events are unquestionably some of the biggest.  

This year’s Super Bowl commercials viewed collectively paint a picture that the vast majority of Americans are progressives on hot button items from immigration to gay rights. Gone were the sexist spots of Super Bowl pasts. Even domain site seller GoDaddy and mens grooming line Axe dropped the Playboy ethos for “Kumbaya” humor. With 30-second commercials going for for $3 million a piece, Madison Avenue minds decided their money is best spent on positive images of men, women, boys and girls that celebrate diversity and equality. From Cheerios to Toyota that is the message that sells.

On Super Bowl Sunday, the US might as well be on a different planet. American football’s annual crescendo is typically the country’s most watched TV show of the year, usually by a considerable margin. Last year’s edition was, by some measures, the third most viewed show in American broadcast history. But on the global stage, it’s a very different story.