Everyone’s Mad at the World Cup’s New ‘Hydration Breaks’—Except Mr. Moneybags Over Here
Tune into any World Cup match in the US, Mexico, or Canada this summer, and you will find that around the 22nd and 67th minute of any game, the plays will stop. For the first time ever, FIFA has introduced three-minute hydration breaks, which are officially framed as a player welfare measure to combat extreme heat. The breaks will take place regardless of the weather outside, even on relatively mild days in New York or Los Angeles.
While FIFA does not break down exactly how much revenue is tied to these new in-game stoppages, the intermissions introduce predictable and guaranteed commercial windows into live broadcasts, creating new advertising inventory. There has been backlash from fans and players, with many arguing that the commercial interruptions disrupt the flow of a sport defined by continuous play.
Ghazi Saoud, a 26-year-old half-Lebanese, half-Norwegian football fan living in Chicago, who is rooting...
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