In the United States, surveys show that the Soccer World Cup will boost men’s sports, but more water and stars will be needed for business to be successful.
The hydration breaks gave television the advertising space that cuts in any other American sport give it. Although short on time, three minutes each were enough for Fox to pocket at least $250 million from those windows alone.
Without these breaks or without the creativity to create other spaces, it will not be easy for soccer to compete with other sports. The television broadcast of American football lasts, on average, about three hours and twelve minutes, with a total game time of 60 minutes. The NBA distributes its 48 minutes on the court for a total broadcast of about two and a half hours. These times are extended because the winner always has to be determined, when in soccer a tie is enough to end the game at 90 minutes.
Beyond water, in the era of saturation of attention and magnetism, another phenomenon was represented by celebrities. They ended up validating and increasing a massive audience in stadiums and on television.
Why do celebrities turn everything into gold? Jack Fuller explains it from neuroscience in “What Is Happening to News”. Celebrities give an illusion of intimacy and, by simply appearing and by contagion, they certify what they touch.
This contagion, like that of Beyoncé, Kylie Jenner, Timothée Chalamet, Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem, among other stars, gives an event, especially new viewers, a certification that no advertising can buy.
Footballers also attract stars due to their magnetism (Mbappé, Haaland, Bellingham, Kane, Ronaldo or Messi), as if they were Hollywood luminaries.
Until recently, the athlete-star conjunction in the United States was exclusive to characters like LeBron James and Tom Brady. But football changed scales when Messi arrived at Inter Miami in 2023 and LeBron and Serena Williams, among many others, attended his debut. Dozens of figures from the sporting and Hollywood world visit him when he plays as a visitor, in packed stadiums reserved for major sports, as if Inter Miami were playing at home.
Now, the MLS, as it did before with Pelé in New York or with Beckham in Los Angeles, also continues to attract big stars who, although they are no longer as brilliant, still have time to attract crowds, such as the latest signings of Griezmann in Orlando and Lewandowski in Chicago.
The biggest attraction of these stars is also played on the billboards. In this World Cup, full of former soccer players and former World Cup players, Beckham alone had a turnover of 25 million for promoting 13 companies.
Beyond screen time and celebrity impact, underestimating the United States in any sport can be a mistake.
The proof is that it has the most successful women’s soccer team in the world, with four World Cups (1991, 1999, 2015 and 2019), five Olympic gold medals (1996, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2024) and thirteen years at the top of the FIFA ranking for women since it was inaugurated in 2003.
This was not achieved with water or stars. After the 1994 World Cup, football was established among boys through programs throughout the country and flourished even more among girls.
The development of men’s football is advancing slowly, but it is still auspicious. An Ipsos survey reveals that 57% of Americans believe that this World Cup will increase general interest in soccer. Another, from YouGov, published on the eve of the final, already places it as the country’s third favorite sport, behind the NFL and the NBA.
For now, it is enough for the United States to have turned the World Cup into the most profitable business in its sporting history. We will have to see if the water and the stars are enough or if it assumes the values of women’s football to continue along the path.
