Are World Cup hydration breaks actually commercial breaks or momentum breaks? - ESPN

For this World Cup, FIFA has introduced mandatory hydration breaks — around the 22nd minute mark of the first half and 67th minute of the second — to counter the weather conditions across Mexico, Canada and the United States this summer.

But while the breaks are essential for player welfare when it's hot, they are happening regardless of the temperature, leading to plenty of criticism about the impact on the game. Furthermore, the breaks have essentially split the game into four quarters similar to the NBA or NFL — which is handy given that the majority of sports fans from the home nations consume their sports in that manner — while it also allows FIFA to cash in on some lucrative advertising revenue for three minutes midway through each half.

Like them or loathe them, our reporters looked at a number of different ways in which hydration breaks are making an impact on this World Cup.

Jump to: A commercial cash injection? | A momentum killer?

The World Cup hydration breaks were first announced by FIFA last December, with the severe heat experienced by teams and players in the U.S. during last summer's FIFA Club World Cup prompting the game's governing body to introduce a formal structure for drinks breaks.

FIFA wanted a «streamlined and simplified» version of the more ad-hoc hydration breaks at previous tournaments and, despite this World Cup being played in some stadiums with air conditioning and roofs, a decision was made to introduce three-minute stoppages each half in every game

«For every game, no matter where the games are played, no matter if there's a roof, or temperature-wise, there will be a three-minute hydration break,» Manolo Zubiria, chief tournament officer of the World Cup, said last December. «It will