In response to potentially dangerous heat conditions at the 2026 World Cup, FIFA instituted two mandatory hydration breaks per game.

These hydration breaks, taken 22 minutes into each half and lasting three minutes apiece, are part of all 104 games at this year’s tournament. Per FIFA, the decision to require the breaks at all games is to “ensure equal conditions for all teams.” It differs from previous tournaments, where breaks were only taken when weather conditions were deemed dangerous.

However, they have provided a potential boon to broadcasters: A new opportunity to introduce extra commercial breaks in all games.

Soccer is notable from many other major sports in that each half is a continuous flow, broken up by a single halftime. By comparison, sports like football and basketball utilize quarters to break up time and numerous additional breaks within those quarters.

This means that broadcasters like Fox, which holds the English-language rights to the tournament in the United States, have 2 minutes and 10 seconds for ads because FIFA requires a buffer of 20 seconds before ads and 30 seconds after. It amounts to four 30-second ads per break.

In total, it could introduce up to 208 new opportunities for ad breaks across the 104 games, or 832 ads — equal to nearly seven additional hours of advertising throughout the World Cup. Outside of the hydration breaks, USA TODAY observed that games on the Fox networks have had three ad breaks during halftime, amounting to 312 existing ad breaks during the tournament.

Per Awful Announcing’s estimate, Fox is potentially making anywhere from $249.6 million to $332.8 million for the entire tournament from these additional ad spots. That estimation is based on reporting from the Wall Street Journal, which claimed that Fox is charging between $200,000 and $750,000 per hydration break ad spot.

Notably, the network also broke FIFA’s rules in the tournament opener between Mexico and South Africa. In that game, Fox returned to the game 10 seconds after play had resumed following the first hydration break. But FIFA won’t punish Fox for the breach, according to The Guardian’s reporting.

Still, not all broadcasters are using the hydration breaks for advertising.

In the United States, Spanish-language Telemundo is not showing ads during the extra breaks. In the United Kingdom, BBC and ITV are also keeping the breaks commercial-free. However, broadcasters in other nations like Mexico, Canada and Spain are selling ad space.

Players have also criticized the breaks, like Dutch captain Virgil van Dijk, who called them “not great.” Others have also commented. Former England international Alan Shearer has said the breaks are killing teams’ momentum, while former Irish international Roy Keane says they are hurting the flow of the game.

Regardless of whether people like them or not, however, the hydration breaks are here to stay — for this year’s World Cup, at least.

Methodology note: Counts assume two hydration breaks per game across 104 World Cup matches, with up to four 30-second ads per hydration break. The existing halftime ad-break count is based on USA TODAY's observation of Fox network group-stage broadcasts.

Source: USA Today