Rain. Ideal football weather. Pretty sad though for the fans who have to sit in it. A rainy day then in Basel for the first match of the Euro 2008 tournament. We - that's me Mark Owen, reporter and presenter, Willy Bracciano, journalist and cameraman, and Khalil Bechir, my counterpart on the Arabic channel - set off to find Football Fever in Switzerland.

There's a lot riding on this tournament on and off the pitch. UEFA is set to make a killing. The European football governing body has signed record breaking deals for sponsorship, a reported 50% up on the last tournament (Portugal 2004). TV rights take the total even higher with UEFA changing how the event is marketed and broadcast.

So the players get exposure and get richer. Their agents are observing and plotting their next lucrative transfer. UEFA gets more and more cash into its coffers. Everyone's happy, right? Well not quite. The small venues mean obvious limits on ticketing.

For the first match, the Sankt Jakob Stadion hosted a sell-out 42,500 crowd. We met many fans without tickets who refused to pay black market prices (160 euro ticket selling for 700 euros). They ended up at the two big-screen Fanzones set up by UEFA (well done them). The commercialisation boom means many more tickets are taken up by interested parties such as sponsors. So the kind of ordinary people who follow the game are increasingly being squeezed out.

In case you were wondering, as a journalist working for a non-rights holder I am not allowed a media ticket or any other access to the stadium on match days. No, we can't watch the game in the ground. In fact, they would not allow me into the UEFA Media Centre at the St Jakob Stadion to have a pee. Security is strict here in Switzerland. Funny though, we have accreditation that costs money, that goes into UEFA's bank account, and gives us not a great deal.

UEFA president Michel Platini defends using small stadia by rightly pointing out that there's no point building huge stadia for an event and later find that teams with no fans have to play there. He's also very proud of the new deals with the sponsors.

Here's a thought. All tickets are numbered. Surely Platini can find a way to trace the ones sold on for exhorbitant sums and take action against the people profiting on the back of the game he himself so graced as a player for Nancy, St Etienne, Juventus and France?? I wonder if he has problems getting a ticket? Even Sarkozy is having trouble getting sorted. France kick off on Monday against Romania in Zurich. I've drawn the short straw. I have to drive.

Basel is lovely, people are very friendly and alternate between German, French, English and Italian when they speak. And they ring a mean Alpine cowbell!