ไทย
English
中國人
In a development that will make football resemble American sports like the NFL and NBA, FIFA has reportedly authorized television networks to air advertisements during mandatory World Cup cooling breaks.
While TV commercials are a standard feature of typical NFL or NBA telecasts during designated pauses like timeouts, this practice has traditionally been absent from football match broadcasts.
However, due to potentially dangerous summer heat in the United States, Canada and Mexico that could pose health hazards to athletes, games will be temporarily halted midway through each period. This allows players to properly rest—in addition to halftime—and rehydrate every 20–25 minutes.
These cooling intervals, which will occur without fail in every fixture regardless of actual weather conditions to maintain tournament equity, are scheduled to last three minutes. This creates an opening for television networks to generate revenue by offering these slots to sponsors.
The pauses have been implemented as a 'player safety' initiative and are certainly warranted as such. However, combined with the astronomical cost of some match tickets, this has only intensified criticism that this World Cup prioritizes corporate profits over the sport and its supporters more than any previous edition.
"The implementation of cooling breaks represents a targeted effort to guarantee optimal conditions for athletes, building upon lessons from past competitions," FIFA states. But if additional revenue can be generated simultaneously, it will be.
FIFA Puts Advertising Caveats in Place
FIFA Establishes Commercial Restrictions
There will remain some safeguards for the football itself and The Athletic indicates that broadcasters don't have complete freedom to act as they wish.
Initially, there is no requirement to air any advertisements whatsoever. In Britain, for instance, the BBC doesn't broadcast commercials except for previews of its own programming. Channels could opt to maintain the match coverage, or switch to a studio for commentary, or even display advertisements in a section of the screen—in this case, spots can only be purchased by FIFA partners.
With a complete departure from the match transmission, commercial time can be purchased by any company, which might create tension if competitors to FIFA-affiliated brands secure them.
There are also rigid scheduling requirements that must be followed. Any advertisements cannot commence within the initial 20 seconds of officials indicating the beginning of a cooling break and the transmission must return to the match coverage at least 30 seconds before action restarts. This provides up to 130 seconds for advertisements within the three-minute interruption.