The World Cup in Santiago

When trying to find words to describe the experience of the World Cup in "the rest of the world" (i.e. anywhere outside the US, primarily, but not exclusively, based for me on my own experience in Santiago), I struggled as I have in the past to imagine an event which could sweep the entire US to emotion. The Superbowl is one potential sports comparison, but is by no means universal. In other parts of the country, maybe horse racing or Nascar or the only-US-and-Canada "World" Series.
A much better comparison came from a friend of mine, who referred to it as "Christmas on steroids." Christmas extends into everyone's life where I live, whether or not they celebrate it. It's on TV, it's on the radio, it disrupts traffic patterns, it's the major marketing push for most big companies, it's in elementary schools. (All of those apply in similar volume to the World Cup)
A few examples:
1. City officials have been giving a lot of thought to the problems of traffic patterns, because Chile's first world cup game is at 7:30am. If Chile wins, the center of the city (The Plaza Baquedano) will become flooded with people. Either way, most commuters will leave home following the game. To address the issue, some workplaces are staggering when they open - some people can travel during half time, others can come in late, etc. People have come up with their own solutions - a recent news report showed the sales of small TVs and antenna (to be used in the car on the way to work) and radios way up. That's a scary thought, but I don't intend to be on the roads.
2. The world's first sports games to be broadcast in 3D - World Cup.
3. I've seen a table full of grandparents and great-grandparents discussing changing cable providers to see more world cup games.
4. HD TV started recently in Chile. The World Cup will mark a drastic expansion of HD TVs in the country (i.e. sharp jump on a graph). Only two cities in the country will have HD for this world cup - Santiago and Concepcion. It's worth noting that Concepcion was one of the cities hit hardest by the earthquake at the end of February.

Two final notes from a soccer-conscious point of view
1. In Chile, one of Chile's national league teams, Colo Colo, is very popular with lower and middle class people. I've been told that construction work (,etc.) slows down on the day after a Colo Colo defeat and goes well if Colo Colo wins. No one hiring the construction workers would dare expect anything different.
2. Chile is by no means the most soccer intense country out there. As a second friend put it, "Once every four years everything slows down and the World pays attention." The World Cup could affect the world's day to day business more than most political decisions.