The 2026 Men’s World Cup is far from over. And yet, attention is already turning toward 2030, and how this year’s tournament can lead to even more lucrative opportunities the next time around.

Front Office Sports reported that the bidding for 2030 World Cup media rights could start at $1 billion in the U.S. – more than double the $485 million Fox paid for this year’s event, which can only be considered a steal.

Along with advantageous time zones in the United States, Canada and Mexico, the 2026 World Cup has also benefited from an expanded tournament field, a fleet of exciting games and big stars, and the much-maligned (by fans) hydration breaks.

While those factors won’t all be repeated for 2030, the results of this year’s event are clear: The World Cup is becoming significantly bigger business on the media front.

2026 World Cup Success

By default, the 2026 event was bound to be an improvement compared to 2022, when the World Cup was not only based in Qatar but also took place outside of the traditional summer tournament time frame.

While airing across November and December of 2022, iSpot told me those matches accounted for 2.77% of TV ad reach during live national linear programming.

With the benefit of the summer and 40 additional matches (by tournament’s end), this year’s World Cup accounts for 13% of live national linear programming TV ad reach since the event started. Thanks to more games and........

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