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FIFA’s World Cup hydration breaks are probably here to stay
The hydration break. The scourge of the soccer fan at the 2026 FIFA World Cup (well, the other one, aside from Alexi Lalas).
Aside from who you think is going to win it all, it’s been the most hotly debated aspect of this year’s tournament.
Not because they’re entirely new, per se. There were three-minute breaks around the 22nd minute at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. However, the extreme temperatures in that climate gave them credence and a valid reason for their existence.
In 2026, however, when many of the matches are played in climate-controlled domes and at temperatures well within the normal range, their continued existence was presumed to be more about the possibility of incorporating advertising into the middle of a match than about player welfare.
Sure enough, some World Cup broadcasters took FIFA up on the offer. The governing body left it up to each broadcaster to decide whether to show ads or remain with the game. The BBC, ITV, and Telemundo are among those who declined to show commercials, but many others have. American English-language rights holder Fox Sports and Canadian host broadcaster TSN are among those showing ads, as are the broadcasters in Spain, Italy, France, Mexico, Ireland, and Germany (per The Athletic).
And if one thing has become abundantly clear to all of them, it’s that these hydration break ads, which add up to around 10 hours of extra ad time over the course of the whole tournament, are incredibly lucrative.
30-second hydration break spots on Fox are reportedly going for anywhere from $200,000 to $750,000, depending on the match. The broadcaster could potentially bring in $250 million in revenue from those ad spots alone.
Writing for CBC, Richard Deitsch spoke with several media analysts and experts in the industry, and they all seem convinced that hydration breaks, and the financial incentives to show commercials during them, are here to stay.
“This is a tremendously valuable move from the standpoint of sports media, and Fox has indicated as much by taking advantage of the ad breaks to run at least four commercials within each half,” Ed Desser, the president of consultancy Desser Sports Media Inc., told CBC.
“Many may not like it as it’s a change in tradition,” said John Kosner, the president of Kosner Media. “But in time, it will become the bathroom/kitchen break for hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.”
Deitsch also spoke with former MLS star and Apple TV analyst Taylor Twellman, who said that there are valid situations where a hydration break is helpful, but it can “really kill rhythm and momentum” of a match. Still, he thinks the most obvious reason, money, is what will ensure they’ll be back for the 2030 World Cup and beyond. He also thinks you might start to see them appear elsewhere.
“I think the amount of money made here will catch FIFA’s attention,” Twellman told CBS. “COVID brought five subs to our game, and we never thought we’d see five subs. Now no one even thinks twice about that. I think it’s a conversation that’s going to be had post-World Cup, and if FIFA keeps this, UEFA is going to be like, “Whoa, look at how much money we can make for Champions League?” You are looking at a conversation that is going to go on for quite some time.”
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