Winter World Cup not to Interfere With NFL & College Football
FIFA President Sepp Blatter quietly awarded the broadcast rights of the 2026 World Cup to Fox Sports, Telemundo, CTV and TSN to appease those networks and prevent lawsuits after having moved the 2022 Qatar World Cup from June/July to November/December.
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Like tumbling dominoes stacked against one another, the fallout of awarding the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar is starting to be felt in all quarters of the soccer universe, having an economic impact on this side of the world.
After deciding to play the 2022 World Cup during the winter season -- when the weather is more palatable to play soccer in the scorching desert -- rather than summertime, FIFA quietly extended the broadcast rights of the 2026 World Cup to Fox Sports (English-language) and Telemundo (Spanish-rights), as well Canadian broadcast companies CTV and TSN, without seeking out bids from their competitors.
The world soccer governing body may have ulterior motives as to why they made the decision to extend those rights to Fox Sports, Telemundo, CTV and TSN. Moving the 2022 World Cup to the winter season put FIFA in a precarious legal position that they want to avoid altogether, especially in light of the 430-page report written by Michael Garcia, who investigated the corruption behind the bids that awarded the 2018 and 2022 soccer tournaments to Russia and Qatar, respectively.
Garcia quit his post with FIFA after they would only publish a summary report of his investigation that the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York described as incomplete and an "erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions."
A lawsuit by Fox and Telemundo after the 2022 World Cup was moved from one season to another would shed light on the report that only four people have read, according to the international world soccer governing body.
"FIFA wanted Fox and Telemundo to be happy with the shifts in dates in 2022 even though the economics for both networks were better with summer coverage," says former president of CBS Sports, Neal Pilson, who is a teacher at Columbia University's graduate sports management program. "FIFA may have feared a lawsuit which would have made them subject to US jurisdiction."
While moving the 2022 World Cup from summer to winter may seem like an inconvenience for the networks holding those broadcast rights, especially considering Fox's stake in airing Pac-12 Conference, Big 12 Conference and Conference USA college football games as well as National Football League (NFL) NFC conference games, Pilson does not believe that FOX will have trouble handling football and fútbol.
"With a seven to 10 hour time difference from Qatar to the USA, soccer matches will not go head-to-head on TV with the NFL or college football," says Pilson. "But sponsors and advertisers will have more sports options in the 4th quarter versus the 3rd quarter. Viewer interest may also not be as strong compared to summer when the World Cup is the only big event on TV."
FOX and Telemundo may take an economic hit having the Qatar World Cup moved to the winter as far as ad revenue, but with the extension of their broadcast deal in place, they stand to gain huge rewards if 2026 World Cup hosting rights are awarded to the United States. The U.S. will compete with Mexico, Canada, and Colombia for the rights to host the 2026 World Cup. China is also looking into making a bid as well as Australia and New Zealand, who will pool their resources to convince FIFA they are capable of hosting the tournament. Should the U.S. win the hosting rights to the 2026 World Cup, FOX Sports and Telemundo stand to reap the rewards.
"This helps the chances for USA to be awarded host country for 2026," says Pilson. "In fact, Fox and Telemundo will enjoy a huge windfall if the USA is selected as the host country for the 2026 World Cup because TV ratings will go up dramatically if the matches are held here."
The biggest losers in all this are ESPN and Univision. ESPN / ABC has aired the English-language broadcasts of the World Cup since 1994 while Univision handled the Spanish-language telecasts for a 44-year stretch until they lost out to Telemundo during the last bidding process. Should the U.S. win the rights to the World Cup in 2026, it will add salt to the wounds for both broadcast companies.
"We’re puzzled as to why FIFA wouldn't talk to their former partner, which did an outstanding job," said ESPN president John Skipper to the New York Times after learning Fox Sports would retain rights for the 2026 World Cup. "They were forced to do it in order to avoid legal consequences."
Univision, who owns 70 percent of the Spanish-language television market in the U.S., is especially bitter losing out on the World Cup considering it will allow its biggest competitor to expand their reach. The company feels withholding a bidding process for the TV rights hurts America's chances of winning the hosting rights for the 2026 World Cup.
"If the rights are already fixed there’s little incentive for FIFA to award 2026 to the U.S,” said Juan Carlos Rodriguez, president of sports for Univision Communications, to the New York Times. "If we had been asked to bid, we would have taken it very seriously."
With ESPN and Univision out of the World Cup business for the next three tournaments, the television coverage will certainly have a different feel to it. Fox Sports (who covers UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, CONCACAF Champions League and Copa Libertadores) and Telemundo (who cover Liga MX games) have experience in broadcasting soccer matches. But covering the World Cup is a huge step up for both companies. It is imperative, for the growth of soccer in this country, that both companies step up to the challenge.
"Like Telemundo, Fox will need to do a good job of producing the broadcasts," says Russ Lindell, a staff writer for Dream|Start Soccer. "[Fox Sports] learned from their mistakes -- most notably, trying to turn Gus Johnson into a soccer commentator, even though he knows nothing about the sport -- and are doing a great job with the U.S. broadcasts of Champions League games. So long as they maintain that high level of production quality and don’t try to force someone like Gus Johnson on the public, it should help the growth of the sport."
Follow Ed Molina at @GlobalEd718
