Chris Martin called Hugh Evans with a pitch that would change sports television forever. It happened during the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
“Wouldn’t it be incredible if we could do the first ever halftime show for the World Cup?” Martin asked.
Evans, CEO of Global Citizen, loved it. He called FIFA.
He didn’t have to try very hard. Gianni Infantino was already planning it. The FIFA president was a fan. He just hadn’t told Martin yet.
The result is this Sunday’s spectacle at the New Jersey Stadium. Between the Spain Argentina match, eleven minutes will flash by. It will feature Coldplay. Justin Bieber. Madonna. BTS. Shakira.
Also PS22 from Staten Island.
That’s it. Eleven minutes to replace a sport’s oldest traditions.
The Price of Attention
There’s a reason fans are groaning.
Soccer purists hate it. They see the Super Bowl creeping into the World Cup. Hydration breaks first. Now a full-scale American-style production?
It feels invasive. It feels like marketing.
“When FIFA unveils an 11 minute halftime spectacle featuring Madonna and Justin Bieber it reads to some as importing anAmerican made for TV sensibility.”
That’s Tiffany Naiman. She runs the music center at UCLA.
She’s not wrong. The World Cup has always had anthems. And opening ceremonies hosted by the locals. This feels different.
It feels manufactured for viewership.
But is it American culture being exported? Or just a proven production model?
The artists disagree with the “Americanization” claim. Bieber is Canadian. BTS is from South Korea. Shakira represents Colombia and Spain.
They’re borrowing the Super Bowl language. They’re not writing it.
Betting on a Star
People are paying attention. Even the gamblers.
Prediction markets on Kalshi and Polymet see billions moving. Questions about which songs will play dominate the threads.
Will Madonna bring out “Material Girl”?
Will Shakira perform “Hips Don’t Lie” again?
Kalshi bets on Madonna. Polymarket favors Shakira. Why? Her song “Dai Dai” with Burna Boy is the official track. Burna is performing. It makes sense.
$40,000 has already hit the Global Citizen fund. Just from the BTS Army. Without being asked.
That’s the goal. Raise $100 million.
One dollar from every ticket. Royalties from the anthem. Money for youth education worldwide.
It’s a good cause wrapped in loud music.
Protecting the Grass
Here is the logistical nightmare.
Football pitches are sacred. FIFA guards them like dragons hoarding gold. You step on it wrong, you pay the price.
You don’t drag heavy amps across turf. You don’t park staging where the strikers sprint.
Producer Lee Rolontz had a problem. How do you build a concert on a soccer field without ruining the season?
The NFL knows.
They put Super Bowl halftime shows on natural grass. Often. Nick Pappas, the NFL field director, shared notes with Rolontz. Best practices for turf protection.
The answer was stealth.
Platforms cover the grass before lights hit. Dollies roll out quietly. Everything is lightweight.
Rolontz has three to four minutes total to set up. And three to four more to tear it down.
No room for error.
The Global Stage
“This is not political,” Rolontz insists.
I ask if that’s really true.
It’s the first World Cup with matches on American soil under Donald Trump. Immigration tensions run high. Iran is struggling for visa access. Surveillance looms over stadiums.
She shrugs.
You can’t ignore it.
Isra Ali at NYU disagrees. The politics are unavoidable. The spectacle is political whether the singers sing or not.
This edition tries to commercialize everything. Hyper-commercialization is its own statement.
What happens next year?
Another country might refuse. Another host could say, “We play football. Not a rock concert.”
Or they might copy.
If the World Cup survives the halftime show without losing its soul, it’s because the artists kept it global. If they fail, they prove the cynics right.
The grass is already being prepared.
