With the U.S. Leading Bosnia 1-0, These Are the Entities Scoring (and Flopping) at the 2026 World Cup

The World Cup is about money. Sure, it’s about national pride and ridiculous dances and sometimes even soccer. But really it’s about money.  Money and monied brands and money people who are trying to monetize things.

FIFA projects it will generate $9 billion from this World Cup year, while one study estimates the tournament overall for the three host countries will generate $41 billion in GDP, which is higher than the GDP of three countries still competing in the World Cup (don’t think too hard about that one).

Beyond the obvious haul of each country’s soccer federation ($22 million-$63 million depending on stage reached) and the players (a lot smaller than that, despite the artistry of the Pulisics and Messis and Mbappes of the world), who is benefitting from this financially? Not just with literal finances, but in reputation and other ways you can cash in. When more than 4.6 million people attend games in person and an average of more than ten million Americans watch each contest, you have some big opportunities when you affiliate with the World Cup — whether you’re a player, sponsor, commentator, influencer, tourist board, venue or gambling site.

Of course, you also have the opportunity to flub that opportunity, as being affiliated with the tournament can be…pricey. So you better ensure you’re getting some ROI, which when it comes to the World Cup is an even more important acronym than VAR.

With the U.S.-Bosnia Herzegovina Round of 32 game underway Wednesday evening from  Levi’s  San Francisco Bay Area Stadium (lowest ticket price on Vivid Seats as Wednesday afternoon: $1,806), here are the business winners and losers of the World Cup so far.

You probably didn’t know much about the “official technology partner of the World Cup” before the tournament started. Heck, you may not know much about it now. But the 40-year-old Chinese company with a beachhead in North Carolina has been quietly making inroads in the American market for a while (they make ThinkPads and Motorola phones). Their presence at the World Cup underscores this.

Its flashy in-broadcasting advertising inside venues has given it a new stature; ditto “refcam,” and those dimensional offside presentations (they come from digital twins the company made of all 1200 players in the tournament). The “official technology partner” basically means they pay a lot of money for the privilege to put these ovel tech twists in the game.

Maybe the most high profile of Lenovo’s efforts is a David Beckham AI-centric commercial, in which he builds a lot of stuff, like a chicken coop, and revs his motorcycle, which apparently AI lets you do. Investors love it: the company’s stock price has risen 70 percent since the campaign debuted in mid-May. Bend it like Buffet?

Speaking of the guy who’s married to Posh, he was everywhere on the pitch, bit nothing like he’s been everywhere at this World Cup.  The 51-year-old is giving Messi and Mbappe a run for their money as the most ubiquitous faces around. In addition to Lenovo, he’s flogging Lays, McDonald’s, Bank of America, Stella, Home Depot (“Build It Like Beckham,” natch) and Adidas in that five-minute epic with Chalamet, Yamal, et al. (One estimate put his total World Cup haul at $25 million.) Dude hasn’t played in 17 years and yet somehow you feel like he just retired. Not an easy trick.

Even as he’s been making the rounds at England’s matches in North America (Boston vs Ghana and New Jersey vs Panama), somehow he ended up back in the Royal Box at Wimbledon a few days ago too. He better watch out, though; too many appearances and you get exposed worse than last night’s strawberries ‘n cream.

The deal was a steal — maybe the steal — of modern sports broadcasting. This is Cape Verde drawing Spain, Paraguay taking down Germany kind of stuff. Fox laid down just about  $450 million to broadcast this World Cup — basically the same as Netflix is paying for just five NFL games. (Except Fox gets the whole tournament and Netflix just gets 2% of the NFL season.) And the ratings so far are stellar — an average of 5 million viewers on its platforms (Fox/FS1 and Tubi). The commercials from those hated hydration breaks alone are generating at least a quarter of a billion dollars. Yes, every time a World Cup player scores, Lachlan Murdoch buys another Beverly Hillbillies mansion.

On strict monetary grounds they’re doing great. But some of the programming calls are… odd to say the least. Ian Darke spends a lot more time pronouncing names than saying anything of substance. Is anyone watching that weird James Corden show? And who thought it was a good idea to have Derek Rae shoot TikTok videos? “Great to be here in Mexico City but I’ve got my umbrella ready for when I go walk about.” Fascinating stuff. A lot has been made about the tension between Alexi Lalas and his co-hosts, and it’s there, but a little studio friction seems like the least of it.

Also, surely there are better postgame commentaries than “a good match,” this was the “right result,” which is about 70 percent of every postgame assessment. This isn’t 1994. it’s the U.S. of massively popular MLS, rabid viewership of the EPL and Champion’s League and a nation obsessed with Ted Lasso. A little strategy wouldn’t kill you. (Notable exception: Stu Holden, who has been and will always remain a national treasure). Fox Sports will undoubtedly win the money game this WC. But as a showcase for its bid to prove it can take down behemoth ESPN or even NBC Sports and Turner? Less convincing.

You’d think this is a joke but it is not a joke. Interest in visiting Cape Verde has skyrocketed since the team went on its draw-happy run to make the Round of 32 —searches from some countries are up nearly 200 percent.  As they should; it’s a chill place. Not sure how soccer makes you realize that, but cool. Nor is this the first time it’s happened — Iceland went through a similar boom when they had their run in the Euros a decade ago. I just hope all the newly converted Cape Verde enthusiasts understand how little the World Cup has to do with reality.  Vozinha will not be meeting you at the airport to invite you back to his house for a cold one and bowl of cachupa.

Are you feeling a hunger for a live sporting event? Are you feeling like you have a thousand bucks or two in your wallet itching to get out? Well, have I got a proposition for you: A World Cup match at an east coast stadium, where prices have routinely topped $1000 on resale sites for even  low-stakes group stage contests, often double what they were on the west coast (and the midwest/Atlanta) for comparable games. 

The trend continues into the Round of 32 as prices jump up. Why Spain-Austria at SoFi ($937) is half the price of Brazil-Norway at MetLife this week ($1762) is anyone’s guess — NY tourists and predatory ticket resellers, probably. And the games from the group stage more often than not been…subpar. Blowouts like France-Iraq in Philly, England-Ghana in Foxborough  and Brazil-Scotland in Miami were all a pretty penny to see nothing much happen at all. (The knockout round has thus far upped its game.)

This is all a win for resellers and the women who love them, but it’s a loss for fans and the people who live near the venues (and, I’d argue for the venues themselves, which will now be filled with the rich and sucker-y, while leaving a bad taste among everyone else who lives near them and might actually buy tickets the rest of the year).

The worst part may be the experience itself. All that money doled out to East Coast venues gets you into the charming confines of MetLife, where concrete is a man’s best friend and no on-field action is far enough. Meanwhile, there’s airy SoFi, pleasant Levi’s, thrilling Lumen and international icon BC Place. (The Mexico stadiums are pretty dope too.) A new heat wave only underscores the point. Want to watch France beat up on Paraguay at  in Philly on July 4 afternoon? You can sit in Lincoln Financial with a high of 97 degrees and 60 percent humidity. Or just watch a potential U.S.-Belgium rematch in beautiful Seattle a few days later with a pleasant 78 degree match time. You know which one George Washington would have chosen.

Those high prices don’t come out of nowhere – they are hosted by Vivid, Stubhub, Ticketmaster and that ridiculous FIFA ‘re-sale market, in which tickets that don’t actually cost $5,000 appear for a second and then are gone faster than an Achraf Hakimi run. With these prices the sites are making commissions like you wouldn’t believe.

Loser: Any fan forced to auction off their firstborn to use one.