You might want to get the UA Mileage Plus credit card. With the current bonuses (do a search in that forum) at about 20k, this will put you in close range for a BC ticket to Germany. You would just need to spend the 5k more or less to get to your goal.

Speaking of credit cards, I would get the AA and NWA cards for the free bonuses if you don't mind your credit score taking a small dip.

With the free ticket on UA, you could use the other airlines (NW, AA) on their partners to jet around Europe to other venues to get away from the football madness :-)