• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 24, 2026

Soccer (football) critics and ardent fans are out with complaints that those new "hydration breaks" during the FIFA World Cup are really about making money -- especially for its TV partners -- with advertising.

But what about the athletes? How do they figure in this issue -- with a sport that consists of almost two 45-minute halves of play with almost continuous running? And hard running at that.

Rising temperatures during some recent soccer matches around the world have forced FIFA to institute two three-minute hydration breaks in matches for this World Cup event.

Here, TV networks can show sideline water or electrolyte drinking, conversation, activity or other content.

And yes, some are even adding -- in dual side-by-side screens -- commercial messaging.

Perhaps viewers and sports TV critics should consider this in light of other athletes in other sports.

Baseball and football players -- although they have more natural breaks in the action of being on or off the field -- can hydrate. The same is true of basketball players -- through time outs, referees reviewing video of specific court calls, and player substitutions.

But what about those sports where the action doesn’t really stop -- like professional road cycling? Telecasts of major events -- like the Tour de France -- can show non-stop action of daily stages and races -- that can last three and a half to six hours.

Cyclists carry -- yes, you guessed it -- water bottles on their bikes. And they are allowed to drift back to their team cars to get more water, which can happen a lot around those hot, six hour races. Riders can also get water from race organizers’ motorcyclists on the course.

The biggest road bike race in the world starts up in less than two weeks (July 4) --- sharing major TV/streaming screen time during the month of July with the World Cup.

You can see some differences when it comes to hydration, advertising, and TV production. For many TV networks/streamers you can see non-stop action with some sharing of advertising messages on the screen -- or none at all.

Tour de France also tries to work in sponsorship messaging in between the action. Like soccer, teams display sponsor logos/names on the jerseys. This is in addition to on-screen messaging and on-site advertising.

In light of what other athletes do to stay hydrated, the whole money grabbing issue of the World Cup issues specifically around hydration is also certainly a factor -- with Fox and Telemundo platforms seeing benefits from several hundred million dollars of advertising, according to industry estimates.

That said, maybe in the future there can be other ways for hard-working soccer athletes to get the hydration, electrolytes, or food they need to sustain themselves while in action.

Soccer-playing fanny pack additions, anyone?

This story has been updated.