The week leading up to yesterday's Grey Cup was filled with a countdown to game day, heartfelt stories of past successes and failures all in time for the 97th edition of the game that names the best team in Canadian football.

With the exception of professional boxing, no other sport has the ability to capitalize on their sponsorship and fan base like football.

Because the location of the game is pre-decided, fans can plan their trips months in advance and, although they may not know what teams will be playing in the game, they are guaranteed to see that year's champions.

The playoffs in football offer no best-of-seven scenario. In the winner-take-all dynamic - teams show up for one game, one night, in a powerhouse of promotion and hype.

There is only one game in each round of the playoffs. If your team wins, you tune in next week. If your team loses you likely pick a second favourite to root for and continue with the playoffs. There is no criss-crossing the continent after every two or three games. Fans know that when they sit down on Sunday there is going to be a champion.

The media also gets a week to dig deep into the teams and stories like the Green Bay Packers local television stations' decision to pull Seinfeld from its programming because New York Giants quarterback Manning liked to watch the show on game days. When the media ran the story it wasn't long before a keen Giants player pointed out the great thing about DVDs are they can be watched at anytime and the team would make sure some episodes of the show were in Manning's possession.

Everyday there is a little something more for the fans to get excited about leading up to the big show.

Football may not be renowned for being the greatest sport, especially in Canada, but football has the business of sport made into an art form. This one shot deal has huge drawing power.

The Super Bowl could be the only time when commercial breaks are not used for a quick bathroom break or a jaunt to the refrigerator for some cold ones. Companies take great financial strains to secure the smallest lengths of airtime during stoppages in play. This could be considered a wise business decision when you consider the fact that more people watched Super Bowl XXXIX than voted in the 2004 U.S. presidential election.

That is a reason there are so many Super Bowl parties. Can you imagine trying to have a party and have everyone together when the Yankees tried to take the World Series from the Red Sox? Four failed attempts to have a real celebratory party.

With this one shot deal, the NFL is able to pull huge endorsements from the fact that over 33 million people will take notice. This is one of the ways that the NFL has been able to be so economically successful; huge television deals and endorsements.

Some sports fans may not appreciate the winner-take-all aspect, but CFL commissioner Mark Cohen and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and their league accountants, are big fans.