When Coldplay took the stage at the halftime show of Super Bowl 50 in 2016, more than 115 million televisions were tuned in. For those who may not remember, the group kicked off with some of their own chart-toppers like “Yellow” and “Viva La Vida” before inviting guest appearances from Beyoncé and Bruno Mars in a tantalizing display of neon lighting and black leather jackets.
Nearly a decade later, it makes sense that most people have likely forgotten the performance, except, it seems, FIFA President Gianni Infantino. On Wednesday, he announced that Coldplay will help curate the first-ever World Cup halftime show when the tournament arrives in the United States in 2026.
While it’s possible that Infantino was so captivated by the 2016 performance that he felt compelled to recreate it a decade later, I suspect other factors are at play, namely, the growing greed that has increasingly infiltrated world soccer.
Much to the chagrin of fans who view the sport as one of the last ‘pure’ — read, not Americanized — sports, the beautiful game has been steadily adopting profit-oriented methods for years. Soccer, once hailed for its lack of advertisement breaks and salary caps, is at risk of losing its unique qualities as owners and executives like Infantino realize how much money has been left on the table.
Though outwardly Americanized systems like the proposed Super League have mostly failed, commodification remains. This trend can, at least partly, be attributed to the influence of the American ownership groups that control some of the globe’s most powerful clubs. In England alone, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea — three of the top five teams in the table — are all owned by individuals and investment groups from across the pond. The obvious question that follows is: Do these Americans really have the true heart of the game in mind?
Granted, anyone with the title of “owner” is unlikely to prioritize the game’s purity over profit. But, in the case of American ownership, this money-driven mindset has been especially apparent.
Perhaps the clearest example is Todd Boehly, the American owner who has spent over €1 billion on transfers since buying co-ownership of Chelsea from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in 2022. Internally, Boehly has invested hundreds of millions into a team that has yet to qualify for the Champions League since his takeover — all while also striving to transform the club into a global commercial powerhouse. In his eyes, Chelsea is not a club with a history and grassroots fans but an investment waiting to be optimized.
So, you might ask, how does he plan to maximize his return? The answer: turning the entire English football system into a commercial enterprise. In his relatively short but ongoing tenure in English soccer, Boehly has proposed not only that the Premier League implement an All-Star game, mirroring the largely meaningless spectacles of the NBA and NFL, but also selling the league’s streaming rights to a service like Netflix. Neither of these plans has been enacted and it’s worth noting that Chelsea fans took to the streets just last week to protest their ownership.
Unfortunately, the reality may be that there is no way to reverse this trend of commercialization. Sure, the sport’s governing bodies could look to strengthen Financial Fair Play or maintain control of broadcasting rights, but such moves would also limit their own profit.
In the end, financial gain will continue to supersede traditionalism on the pitch. So, whether you like it or not, get ready for sponsorships and halftime shows galore.
