World Cup 2026: A hyper-commercial era takes center stage

Fifa’s 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico leans into hyper-commercial tactics—dynamic pricing, premium merchandise, sponsorships and hydration breaks—to lift revenues toward about $13bn, even as fans push back over prices and ticket resale rules and regulators probe ticketing; while many see the US edition as an outlier driven by its market, executives expect several elements to endure and set a new benchmark for future tournaments.