What’s a hydration break worth & Mr Beat-Up divides Bryce and Ren

**Ren** (0:00)
All 104 matches of this World Cup are going to have a three-minute hydration break, 800 additional ad slots.

**Simon** (0:07)
In essence, they've turned it into four quarters. FIFA just gaslighting us, okay?

**Bryce** (0:16)
Welcome to another episode of Equity Mates, a show where we explore what's possible in the world of investing. If you've joined us for the very first time, a massive welcome to our community. My name is Bryce.

**Ren** (0:26)
And I'm Ren, and today we have a very exciting episode. We are talking about the business of sport. Everything from hydration breaks to the Knicks generational run. And then we have Mr. Beat Up, who's on a generational run of his own. He's back in the studio and he's talking about another stock that is down, but may not be out.
Bryce, I'm excited for this one.

**Bryce** (0:48)
I'm excited for this one as well. And we have Mr. Beat Up joining us for our sports discussion. Simon, welcome.

**Simon** (0:53)
Good to be here.

**Bryce** (0:54)
You'd be pretty pumped. The World Cup's on.

**Simon** (0:56)
Very pumped. Very pumped.

**Bryce** (0:58)
All right. Well, you're not pumped about the hydration break. So let's start there. There is so much happening in sport at the moment. And the talk of the town is the World Cup and the hydration break. If you have no idea what we're talking about and you haven't watched the sport at all, they've managed to now slip into the broadcast pauses in play that last up to a few minutes where the players, I guess, have some sort of hydration. But the broadcasters have the ability to push some ads.

**Simon** (1:28)
In essence, they've turned it into four quarters. They've turned the game into four quarters.

**Ren** (1:34)
Let's give Simon 30 seconds just to tee off.

**Simon** (1:37)
The main annoyance of this is that FIFA is just gaslighting us, OK?
They've pitched this as a progressive step to improve player safety. But that is bullshit. And I'll tell you why it's bullshit, because hydration brakes aren't new. In previous tournaments, they've had these cooling brakes, but they've been called at the discretion of the referee if the heat or humidity reaches a certain level. Whereas now, they've mandated two three-minute breaks, one in each half, whatever the weather. So it could be playing in boiling Miami where it probably makes sense. So it could be in Toronto where it's like 15 degrees, or even in some of these stadiums that are air-conditioned controlled. Houston doesn't go over 23 degrees. It's got air conditioning, but they are having a hydration break as well.

**Ren** (2:23)
All right, Simon, your 30 seconds is up.

**Bryce** (2:26)
I'm not as into the game as you are. But if a player wanted a drink and they didn't have hydration breaks, they can just grab a drink.

**Simon** (2:33)
Yeah, what normally happens is if a free kick or there's an injury or a sub or a break in play, they'll just grab a bottle off the sidelines.

**Ren** (2:41)
So while Simon is incredibly disappointed, you should have heard Bryce earlier. He was like, makes sense, more inventory.

**Simon** (2:46)
More inventory.

**Ren** (2:47)
More inventory. I'm a money man.
And so we decided to do the math. What is a hydration break worth? So all 104 matches of this World Cup are going to have a three-minute hydration break, which rough, rough will create about 800 additional ad slots. So looking at the Mexico-South Africa game, when the first hydration break happened, it was sponsored by Powerade. This is in the US broadcast. Sponsored by Powerade. And then there were four commercials, AT&T, Michelob Ultra, Lowe's and Fanjule. Now, estimates of what a World Cup ad costs range between 400 grand to $2 million in ad spot, obviously depending on the match, which means a hydration break is ranging from about $2 million to $8 million worth.

**Bryce** (3:37)
Per game.

**Ren** (3:38)
$1.6 to $8 million per hydration break.

**Bryce** (3:41)
Per break, yeah.

**Ren** (3:43)
Across 800 spots.
104 matches, but 208 hydration breaks. So at the upper end of that range, we're talking $1.66 billion for the US broadcaster alone.

**Bryce** (3:56)
Far out.

**Ren** (3:56)
That's what a hydration break is worth.

**Simon** (3:58)
Far out.

**Bryce** (3:59)
But not every company, not every company, not every country is showing the ads. Over in your hometown, Simon, Britain, where the sport began.

**Simon** (4:09)
Holding the line.

**Bryce** (4:10)
Holding the line. The broadcaster ITV has already said it will not show adverts during the hydration break due to strict advertising limits.

**Simon** (4:18)
It's because they can't.

**Bryce** (4:18)