COMMERCIAL BREAKDOWN
The last time the USA hosted the World Cup, drinks breaks – or the lack thereof – became a scorching bone of contention. Upset at having to stand on the touchline listening to the pasty skin of Tommy Coyne, Steve Staunton and assorted other Irish players audibly crackle in 40-degree heat, Big Jack Charlton went to war with Fifa over their refusal to sanction official breaks in play so that his famously thirsty footballers could take on liquids. The rules from on high decreed that players near the dugout could adjourn to the sideline for refreshments while play continued. However, since bottles were not allowed on the pitch, those further away had to try catching flimsy funfair-style plastic bags of water – sans goldfish – thrown from the touchline. Anyone who happened to be out of chucking range just had to flirt with heat stroke for the good of the tournament.
Fast forward three decades, and the football and corporate landscapes have changed immeasurably. With the game long gone and now heavily influenced by “woke snowflakes” obsessed with fripperies such as player health and safety, Fifa had already decided to introduce mandatory water breaks during every match played at this summer’s Geopolitics World Cup. Unlike previous tournaments, where cooling breaks were only triggered if temperatures exceeded a certain threshold, the 2026 policy standardises breaks for all 104 matches, regardless of the weather. While this diktat handed down by Fifa last December was obviously based on nothing other than player welfare, some cynics observed that these three-minute breaks would ostensibly turn football into a game of four quarters. As luck would have it, they would also present Fifa with an additional 208 guaranteed advertising slots from which to hoover up even more revenue. At a time when highly choreographed corner routines are occasionally likened to something from an American football playbook, it seems Fifa is also being heavily influenced by the NFL.
To nobody’s great surprise, Fifa grasper-in-chief Gianni Infantino has now announced that he has given commercial broadcasters permission to show adverts during World Cup water breaks, subject to certain conditions that largely benefit his organisation. Eligible parties will have the option to use a split screen, where they will only be able to hawk products for Fifa’s “official partners,” or use a full cutaway, where they will be allowed to show ads for anything. These commercials should not start within 20 seconds of the referee blowing for the start of the water break, and must end at least 30 seconds before play resumes. While fans in the UK watching matches on the publicly-funded BBC will be treated to uninterrupted coverage of Harry Kane or John McGinn squirting lukewarm bottles of Evian over their sweaty heads, their rivals at ITV are understood to be weighing up their options. If their pivot towards mid-game split-screen advertising during the current Six Nations rugby is any indication, viewers can probably expect to see a lot of ads for Aramco, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Visa, Hyundai, Kia and Qatar Airways this summer.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Scott Murray from 8pm GMT for hot minute-by-minute coverage of Wolves 0-0 Liverpool (aet; 0-1 on penalties) in the FA Cup fifth round.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I will tell you now, maybe it will sound strange, but I believe more after this game than I believed before. I saw something. I need to choose the right guys because the boat is going in the direction that I want to go, and needs to go, and who is in the boat can stay. Otherwise they can leave the boat. When players come back I’m sure we will have a good team and the victories will come. It’s not easy to accept the moment where we are now, but it is how it is” – Igor Tudor sees something that few others can, especially those of a Spurs persuasion, after a calamitous 3-1 home defeat by Crystal Palace left them one point clear of the Premier League drop zone.
Spurs, and in particular, Thursday’s first half ‘performance’, if that’s the right word, are going to single-handedly put Football Daily and every single professional comedian (and Jack Whitehall) out of business, for good. There’s no competing with that” – Noble Francis.
In the early days of my career I had many brilliant ideas at the workplace but hardly any progress or improvement to the bottom line. My boss told me: ‘You are on the right track but the train is not moving.’ Same with Igor Tudor” – Krishnamoorthy V.
If Tudor thinks his ‘boat’ is heading in the right direction, then presumably he is a big Titanic fan. Looking ahead, some real challenges will be thrown up should the Good Ship Spurs go down. Are, for example, Stoke fans really going to be up for a visit to the cheese room on a cold, rainy Tuesday night?” – Paul Taverner.
May I be the first of 1,057 bored-to-death Arsenal fans to congratulate Tottenham for bringing much-needed excitement back to top-flight football on Thursday evening. Utterly imploding more quickly and in less time than it takes for Arsenal to restart play from a goal-kick – very impressive” – Nick Arnott (and no other bored-to-death Arsenal fans).
Re: yesterday’s Football Daily. In giving Fabian Hürzeler even more pixels with which to whinge, has Football Daily itself become part of the time-wasting scourge?” – Clinton Macsherry [and affording this response too? – Football Daily Ed].
If enthusiastically raising your right arm is, per Gareth Rogers (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), key to shot-blocking, Wayne Hennessey probably missed a trick in his choice of pro sport. Mind you, that wouldn’t be the last silly decision of his life, eh?” – James Humphries.
If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … James Humphries, who gets a Football Weekly mug or scarf. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.
THE ROAD TO WEMBLEY
Port Vale will again be the subject of our focus on Sunday, when League One’s basement side, the lowest-ranked team left in the competition, host Sunderland in the FA Cup fifth round. And what a treat in store for the home fans: a first ever usage of VAR at Vale Park. “I’ve had some groups, I’ve managed over 500 games in my time and no matter how this goes from now to the end of the season this is one of the best groups I’ve ever had,” whooped Jon Brady, manager of a maverick group at his disposal that includes Ben Waine, Andre Gray and Onel Hernández. Best of luck to the Valiants … and Sunderland too, on what is bound to be a sticky pitch.
Leave a Reply