Coming off its most lucrative World Cup ever, FIFA is exploring selling US media rights for the next two tournaments together that would keep the controversial hydration break that boosted ad revenue, according to a person familiar with the matter, a Bloomberg report has stated.

The negotiations are still very early though, according to the person who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the talks. The tournament organizer is also interested in potentially bundling rights for English and Spanish broadcasts together instead of separately, the person said. FIFA declined to comment.  (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-06/fifa-world-cup-hydration-breaks-likely-in-next-us-media-rights-deal?srnd=phx-screentime)

FIFA has been in turmoil since early last week when Gianni Infantino, the governing body’s president, faced backlash over his plan to raise about $4 billion by selling stakes in a new commercial vehicle to investors.

Infantino later dropped the idea and is now fighting to hold onto his job.

The next media rights deal will be negotiated after the 2026 World Cup generated more than $ 15 billion in revenue, aided by expanding the tournament to 48 teams from 32 and higher ticket prices.

The final between Spain and Argentina had a record US TV audience of 62 million viewers between Fox Corp., holder of the English rights, and Comcast Corp.’s Telemundo and Peacock, which aired the tournament in Spanish.

Fox reportedly paid $485 million for the rights to the 2026 World Cup after FIFA gave them a bargain price. FIFA had moved the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from summer to late fall after Fox had already purchased the media rights to the tournament. With the broadcaster arguing that the 2022 rights were less valuable for a fall tournament, FIFA sweetened the 2026 deal in order to avoid legal action.

The 2026 tournament, hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, ended up delivering a boon to Fox, which reported on August 6 that its advertising revenue surged 78 percent to $1.9 billion during its fiscal fourth quarter, an increase primarily driven by the World Cup.

Mandatory three-minute hydration breaks in each half of every match were used for the first time in this year’s tournament. That allowed for additional commercials that may have brought in an estimated $500 million for Fox, potentially offsetting what it paid for the 2026 media rights.

But the stoppages faced criticism for interrupting gameplay, including incidents when Fox returned late to the action.

Bundling English- and Spanish-language media rights could ultimately be favourable to Comcast’s NBCUniversal, which includes both Telemundo and NBC, the Bloomberg report concluded.