{"id":714,"date":"2026-06-23T19:11:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T19:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=714"},"modified":"2026-06-23T19:11:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T19:11:54","slug":"water-gate-fifas-solution-to-world-cup-heat-is-seen-as-a-cash-grab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=714","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWater-Gate\u201d: FIFA\u2019s Solution to World Cup Heat Is Seen as a Cash Grab"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Man<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

This story was originally published by\u00a0<\/em>Grist\u00a0and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk\u00a0collaboration.<\/em><\/p>

Read more Jared Kushner Helped Make This Mess in Iran While Making a Mess of Money<\/a><\/p>\n

When the United States<\/span> took the pitch against Australia last week, millions of soccer fans tuned in. Anyone who hadn\u2019t watched a match since the last World Cup might have noticed something new: players stopping midway through each half to drink some water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Introduced in the name of player safety, these mandatory three-minute breaks are a surprise controversy that has shoved climate change into the spotlight. Water-gate<\/em>, blared a headline in The Independent<\/em>, a UK newspaper. The chief sportswriter at the Daily Mail<\/em> called the breaks a \u201cmomentum killer\u201d and a \u201cmoney-grabbing disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans were equally outraged. Spectators at the match between\u00a0England and Croatia\u00a0booed when the referee blew the whistle, and comments poured in on Reddit. \u201cI\u2019m booing from home,\u201d read one. Another said, \u201cFIFA ruined the beautiful game.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA, the sport\u2019s governing body and organizer of the tournament, declined to comment and referred Grist<\/em> to its announcement of the policy in December. \u201cThe use of hydration breaks is part of a focused attempt to ensure the best possible conditions for players,\u201d\u00a0the statement read.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before this World Cup, cooling breaks only occurred when the wet bulb temperature\u2014essentially a measure of air temperature and humidity combined\u2014reached 32 degrees C, or about 90 F. Now the rule applies to all games, regardless of temperature, humidity, or other factors. It even applies to matches played indoors with air conditioning.<\/p>\n

The move came after criticism of a tournament in the United States last summer, when the organization representing players, FIFPRO,\u00a0said extreme heat should have canceled matches.\u00a0\u201cIt has never been more important,\u201d the organization\u00a0said in a press release\u00a0before the World Cup, \u201cto give space to scientific knowledge and find mitigation strategies that protect the health and wellbeing of our players.\u201d<\/p>

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There is no doubt that rest and water can help protect players in a world where extreme heat is becoming more common and increasingly dangerous. But many fans, and even athletes, think FIFA has gone too far. \u201cIf it\u2019s really hot, obviously it will be good to put them in. But I think you have \u2060to look at it in every game separately, in my opinion,\u201d said\u00a0Virgil van Dijk, captain of the Netherlands\u2019 squad. One Reddit user\u00a0complained, \u201cWe\u2019re inundated with commercials.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s been a frequent complaint, and it has led to speculation that FIFA implemented the breaks to boost the number of ads that are shown. Broadcasters aren\u2019t required to go to full-screen commercials during hydration breaks\u2014Telemundo and the BBC, for instance, don\u2019t. FIFA also dictates that ads must start 20 seconds into the pause and end 30 seconds before play resumes. But that still creates 2 minutes and 10 seconds of extra ad time available per half, which can be extremely lucrative.\u00a0The Wall Street Journal<\/em> reports\u00a0that a 30-second spot during early games sells for roughly $200,000 and rises to around $750,000 when the US national team plays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve essentially divided the game into quarters,\u201d John Kosner, a former ESPN executive, told the Journal<\/em>, \u201cand made enormously valuable breaks.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 67 minutes into the opening game of the World Cup, the referee signaled for a mandatory hydration break. The American broadcaster, Fox, cut to commercials. But they ran longer than the respite, so players were left stalling and many viewers missed the restart entirely. Fox said\u00a0it didn\u2019t see the referee signal\u00a0the start of the break because it came during a replay. FIFA\u00a0doesn\u2019t plan to punish the network. But the incident did little to quell people\u2019s fears about commercialization\u2014in part because the temperature at kickoff was a relatively balmy\u00a074 degrees F.FIFA has required the breaks in all matches as an effort to be fair across a tournament that sees teams playing in 16 stadiums and three countries. That argument, though, has again done little to ease criticism. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t ring true to me,\u201d said Chris Taylor, the head coach of the\u00a0Vermont Green FC\u2019s men\u2019s team, explaining that every soccer game has different stoppages and different lengths.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Green are a climate-focused organization, so the dangers of extreme heat are particularly front of mind. Taylor sees hydration breaks as critical when the conditions warrant them, which\u00a0they have numerous times during his decades-long career as a player and coach. Still, he questions FIFA\u2019s motives at this World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the health of the players is their primary concern,\u201d he said. \u201cThis World Cup has felt that every angle has been monetized.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Did Trump Get Special Access to Retatrutide?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mandatory hydration breaks\u2014even when it\u2019s not all that hot\u2014have purists fuming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cWater-Gate\u201d: FIFA\u2019s Solution to World Cup Heat Is Seen as a Cash Grab - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=714\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cWater-Gate\u201d: FIFA\u2019s Solution to World Cup Heat Is Seen as a Cash Grab - Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mandatory hydration breaks\u2014even when it\u2019s not all that hot\u2014have purists fuming.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=714\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-23T19:11:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/88519bacaa6a23ba762fe574f4c0f88a.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1124\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=714#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=714\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\"},\"headline\":\"\u201cWater-Gate\u201d: FIFA\u2019s Solution to World Cup Heat Is Seen as a Cash Grab\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T19:11:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=714\"},\"wordCount\":824,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=714#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/b3b9cd533d979bb7760007fcdba156bc.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Environment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=714#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=714\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=714\",\"name\":\"\u201cWater-Gate\u201d: FIFA\u2019s Solution to World Cup Heat Is Seen as a Cash Grab - 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