Now that FIFA has figured out a way to allow its rightsholders to insert advertising pods into their live World Cup telecasts, the final barrier preventing Americans from embracing the quadrennial men’s tourney at scale has been smashed to bits. Designed to ensure that players don’t succumb to desiccation under steamy stateside conditions, FIFA’s new hydration breaks also function as a convenient pause in the action from which to sell beer, sneakers and sporty compact sedans.
The governing body of international soccer has introduced a pair of three-minute breaks that will arrive at about the midway point of each 45-minute half. This essentially divides the matches into quarters, which is how American spectators prefer to mark the passage of time.
While the networks aren’t beholden to cut away to a brisk pocket of commercial messaging—FIFA has limited each hydration break to no more than 130 seconds of actual ad time, giving Fox and Telemundo the equivalent of around 8.5 30-second spots over the course of a match—the odds that the networks would pass up on the opportunity to offset the cost of staging the World Cup are right up there with the probability of Maradona suiting up for Argentina. Fox wasted no time, going to full-screen ads during the breaks in Thursday’s tournament opener between Mexico and South Africa.
