FIFA Branding Monopoly Knocks Name Off Hard Rock Stadium, Ousts Gambling Logos
All companies not official FIFA partners will have their logos scrubbed from World Cup stadiums
IMAGN/Brant James illustration Hard Rock Stadium will not host World Cup games beginning on June 15. Miami Stadium will. (Even though its technically in Miami Gardens, Fla.
) The power that world soccer sanctioning body FIFA wields over the marketing of its prestigious event assured that 10 of the 11 venues hosting 104 games, ending on July 19, will change from corporate to geographic names. Only official sponsors and partners of the organization will be allowed to brand themselves, with a partial exemption made for Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. FIFA demands compliance to “protect its brands and the exclusive rights of its sponsors,” meaning AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will be generically known as Dallas Stadium for the World Cup.
Not just gambling brands are to be expunged, but anything that competes with FIFA sponsors, even though the body doesn’t technically have a sportsbook partners anymore. While several gambling/resort companies stand to lose valuable real estate they’ve rented through deals with NFL teams hosting World Cup games in their stadiums, Hard Rock International, owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, is the only one to actually have its name removed from a venue. Hard Rock also operates a global hospitality and resort business.
FIFA’s official sportsbook partner for the 2022 World Cup and 2025 Club World Cup, Betano, does not do business in the United States. In January, though, FIFA announced that Stat Perform had become its official betting data provider and an intermediary for legal sportsbooks here. At least one domestic sportsbooks company broached the possibility of negotiating an official partnership with FIFA for the World Cup, but considered the terms exorbitant.
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