Pubs have said late kick-off times for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will bring less customers while pushing up costs.
FIFA are considering late kick-off times for the upcoming World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico because of weather conditions and player welfare, with kick-off times potentially being as late as 2am in the UK.
The decision is expected to be made after the World Cup draw in December.
Aaron Mitsud, 38, manager of Sixes Social Cricket sports bar in London Bridge, told the Londoners: “It’s going to hit hard.
“It’s always a great money maker every two years with the World Cup and the Euro’s but no one’s going to be turning up at those hours in the morning in the numbers you need to make staying open viable.”
Robert Leonard-Green, 46, manager of Belushi’s bar in Greenwich said: “That means we’re going to be trading from 11 in the morning till two o’clock at night in a sleepy suburb that is predominantly known for its tourism on the weekend.
“That’s just simply not financially viable.”
Data from Experian showed Euro 2024 and the Paris Olympics brought £233million to the UK economy in the food, drink and retail sectors.
At the World Cup in 2022, kick-offs were staggered from 1pm, 4pm and 7pm UK time.
FIFA had later kick-offs for the Club World Cup in the US last summer, with kicks-off being staggered at 5pm, 8pm, 11pm and 2am UK time.
But 5pm would mean a midday kick off on the US east coast and 8pm would mean a midday kick off on the west coast.
Temperatures around midday in the US is its hottest, hitting 40 degrees celsius.
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca said last summer that it was ‘impossible’ to play in 32 degrees-plus temperatures and sauna-like humidity.
President of Concacaf, Victor Montagliani, said the intense heat would be taken into consideration when scheduling games.
Montagliani said that FIFA would ‘learn’ from the experiences of players from the Club World Cup.
It is expected that the government will extend licences for bars and pubs to accommodate for later kick-off times.
However, Leonard-Green said: “The health of the industry is already bad.
“Everything is infinitely more expensive from the purchasing side. Minimum wage is going up so even if the government extend our licences to accommodate for later kick-offs, who’s to say we’ll make money.”
There has also been a trend the last few years of major sporting events becoming more international.
The last World Cup was staged in Qatar and the 2030 World Cup will be taking place over six countries in Europe, Africa and South America.
Pubs say this trend will have a negative impact on the health of the UK drinking industry.
Mitsud said: “We had a similar issue a few years back when the Ashes were in Australia.
“We do have a licence that means we can stay open at 2:30am but we didn’t because unless we can guarantee people will come, it isn’t financially viable to stay open.
“With sport events on that late we can’t afford to stay open.”
Featured image credit: Unsplash
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