Will the World Cup be infected by Super Bowl Fever?
The halftime show is stitched into the fabric of American sport. What started with marching bands has now become one of pop culture’s most anticipated live moments. In the wake of Bad Bunny’s performance, with DtMF on repeat, fans are looking ahead to the next major moment on the sporting calendar.
In a move that feels almost alien to traditional football culture, FIFA’s first-ever halftime show is set to take place during the World Cup final. It’s a bold signal that the lines between sport and entertainment are blurring. But it’s also a cultural clash, one that has already been labelled “a sad day for football”.
American sport culture thrives on spectacle. Pre-game and halftime entertainment can be guilty of overshadowing the sport itself. The performance becomes the main event, and the game becomes the backdrop. The Super Bowl root its identity in that intersection, but football doesn’t operate in the same way.
Aligning the World Cup with the United States’ biggest sporting format might broaden domestic appeal, but the tournament already commands the biggest audience in sport.
On Sunday 8th February, Super Bowl 60 drew in 220 million global viewers. Seven hours earlier, a mid-season Premier League clash between Liverpool & Manchester City reached over 700 million global fans. The Super Bowl might need its halftime show to maintain cultural relevance. The World Cup does not.
Broadcasting, media, entertainment and culture are colliding, and the World Cup is framed as a cultural product as much as a sporting event. While American sports have long embraced that intersection, football has traditionally resisted. Halftime is functional, a chance for fans to dissect the first 45 minutes, queue for an overpriced pint. Aligning football with the American model of sport as a spectacle risks alienating the fans who shaped football culture from the ground up.
The World Cup is the most watched sporting event on the planet. A halftime show might draw new eyes, but also risks shifting the narrative from what drew in football’s fiercely loyal fans in the first place.
If the 2026 World Cup’s halftime show succeeds, will that ripple down to club level? Does the Premier League face pressure to integrate more entertainment? Or does football double down on the purity of uninterrupted play?
Excellent comment piece Milo. It will be interesting to see any impact on future World Cups.
The acts chosen will also surely impact reception. Where every choice now feels politicised, who and what is given centre stage inevitably signals and is interpreted as some sort of statement. I'm not a huge football fan so will likely be following that conversation unfold over the final second half.
Really love this!! Very interesting read 🤔
The Super Bowl invites the world to look into America’s game. For one night. The World Cup will have the world watching a global game, in a country that doesn’t traditionally own it. For weeks. Whatever rollercoaster unfolds on the pitch, the off-field dynamics are likely to match it. Let’s see how brands keep up!