The 2026 World Cup in North America, with Mexico, Canada, and the United States playing host, started on Thursday with a fixture between Mexico and South America in Mexico City.
The host nation went on to win 2-0, scoring a goal in each half. As exciting as the action on the pitch ended up being, with three red cards being issued, fans who were watching at home were incensed by one of Fox’s mistakes during its broadcast.
For the first time, every World Cup fixture has mandatory hydration breaks in each half, regardless of weather. These breaks serve to make sure athletes are safely hydrated, but also, rather conveniently, allow broadcasters to feature commercials during the break.
Unfortunately, during the second half of the Mexico-South Africa game, Fox missed some of the game action after commercials ran a bit long during the second-half hydration break.
Growing pain of the first match or not, people were incensed with the gaffe.
“All it took was literally the second hydration break for FOX to run too many commercials and miss some live action. Absolutely ridiculous conceit,” wrote The Athletic’s Tom Bogert on X.
“Fox Sports was playing so many commercials during the hydration break that the game restarted before they were done. Enough, man. Stop this f*cking nonsense,” author and sports writer Zito Madu added.
However, according to sports business writer Joe Pomliano, fans will have to hope broadcasters nail handling the hydration breaks, because they will be going anywhere.
“It feels increasingly obvious that FIFA will keep hydration breaks for future World Cups regardless of the weather,” Pompliano wrote on X. “FIFA loves money and adding in commercial breaks is the easiest way to guarantee higher media rights fees. It’s that simple.”
It feels increasingly obvious that FIFA will keep hydration breaks for future World Cups regardless of the weather.
FIFA loves money and adding in commercial breaks is the easiest way to guarantee higher media rights fees.
It’s that simple.
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 11, 2026
It seems like a fairly easy fix; hopefully, the producers for the World Cup’s broadcast partners don’t take too long to figure out how to properly time their commercial breaks for the rest of the event.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.