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That’s part of their poor commercial vision. Even the World Cup brings less revenue than one season of the NBA. Doesn’t even make sense to compare it with the

by tedggh 2mo ago

That’s part of their poor commercial vision. Even the World Cup brings less revenue than one season of the NBA. Doesn’t even make sense to compare it with the NFL.

triceratops 2mo ago
Again, it doesn't last as long as one season of the NBA or play as many games. A single NBA season has over 1200 games - over 12 times as many games as the most recent World Cup (104). And that was already the largest-ever WC. Does the NBA have 12x the revenue of the WC? > Even the World Cup brings less revenue than one season of the NBA This isn't even true btw. The 2026 WC made $15b and the 2025-26 NBA season made $14.3 billion. [1][2] Most of the WC's participating teams represent places poorer than the places NBA teams hail from. You can't run the World Cup like the NBA. That's not how the sport works. 1. https://www.sportico.com/leagues/basketball/2025/nba-revenue-projected-2025-26-season-1234876505/ https://www.sportico.com/leagues/basketball/2025/nba-revenue... 2. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/18/fifa-record-15bn-world-cup-revenue https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/18/fifa-record...
bl0b 2mo ago
So what. The point of the World Cup is a worldwide celebration of soccer, interchange of culture. It belongs to the people. It's one of the only things left whose purpose is not just to make as much money as possible.
- nephihaha 2mo ago
  The Qatar World Cup tournament was obviously such a thing. The place had the money to build all the stadiums, but has never qualified legitimately and is a tiny country. Thousands of people died building those stadiums in Qatar. Plus there is advertising all over the players' clothing, the pitch, the pitchside hoardings etc. There is high rent advertising in every break. Even more so since theze silly hydration breaks.
  - bl0b 2mo ago
    I mean, of course you're right about all of that. (The Qatar world cup was more for 'sportswashing' than extracting profit, although FIFA itself still made plenty of money. And, the hydration breaks will hopefully be a thing of a the past, because it was so obvious what they were really for. But I'm not betting on that.) It just sucks that everything good and sacred in the world (soccer and everything else) is being squeezed and shittified for profit. So if FIFA is prevented from converting from a non-profit with the nominal purpose of being a steward of the game for its own stake into a fully explicit for-profit capitalistic enterprise, then I'll take the victory. Even if the current system is far from perfect.
    - nephihaha 2mo ago
      Football has had a major profiteering issue since at least the 1970s. The clubs always had to support themselves, but since then you have advertising everywhere, footballers in moronic adverts themselves, broadcasting rights, players being paid (and being worth) obscene amounts of money... In recent years, there has been a clear movement away from the physical fanbase towards merchandise and broadcasting. It often feels like clubs are embarrassed by the people who turn up at games (sometimes with good reason to be fair since some of the fan behaviour and chants are indefensible).

by tedggh 2mo ago

That’s part of their poor commercial vision. Even the World Cup brings less revenue than one season of the NBA. Doesn’t even make sense to compare it with the NFL.

triceratops 2mo ago

Again, it doesn't last as long as one season of the NBA or play as many games. A single NBA season has over 1200 games - over 12 times as many games as the most recent World Cup (104). And that was already the largest-ever WC. Does the NBA have 12x the revenue of the WC? > Even the World Cup brings less revenue than one season of the NBA This isn't even true btw. The 2026 WC made $15b and the 2025-26 NBA season made $14.3 billion. [1][2] Most of the WC's participating teams represent places poorer than the places NBA teams hail from. You can't run the World Cup like the NBA. That's not how the sport works. 1. https://www.sportico.com/leagues/basketball/2025/nba-revenue-projected-2025-26-season-1234876505/ https://www.sportico.com/leagues/basketball/2025/nba-revenue... 2. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/18/fifa-record-15bn-world-cup-revenue https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/18/fifa-record...

bl0b 2mo ago

So what. The point of the World Cup is a worldwide celebration of soccer, interchange of culture. It belongs to the people. It's one of the only things left whose purpose is not just to make as much money as possible.

nephihaha 2mo ago
The Qatar World Cup tournament was obviously such a thing. The place had the money to build all the stadiums, but has never qualified legitimately and is a tiny country. Thousands of people died building those stadiums in Qatar. Plus there is advertising all over the players' clothing, the pitch, the pitchside hoardings etc. There is high rent advertising in every break. Even more so since theze silly hydration breaks.
- bl0b 2mo ago
  I mean, of course you're right about all of that. (The Qatar world cup was more for 'sportswashing' than extracting profit, although FIFA itself still made plenty of money. And, the hydration breaks will hopefully be a thing of a the past, because it was so obvious what they were really for. But I'm not betting on that.) It just sucks that everything good and sacred in the world (soccer and everything else) is being squeezed and shittified for profit. So if FIFA is prevented from converting from a non-profit with the nominal purpose of being a steward of the game for its own stake into a fully explicit for-profit capitalistic enterprise, then I'll take the victory. Even if the current system is far from perfect.
  - nephihaha 2mo ago
    Football has had a major profiteering issue since at least the 1970s. The clubs always had to support themselves, but since then you have advertising everywhere, footballers in moronic adverts themselves, broadcasting rights, players being paid (and being worth) obscene amounts of money... In recent years, there has been a clear movement away from the physical fanbase towards merchandise and broadcasting. It often feels like clubs are embarrassed by the people who turn up at games (sometimes with good reason to be fair since some of the fan behaviour and chants are indefensible).