When the 2022 World Cup was first switched from summer to winter, Fox was understandably pretty angry.
The network bid for the World Cup with the intention of filling its open summer months with the extremely lucrative tournament. By contrast, Fox’s winter schedule is already filled up with college and NFL football among other sports.
But time (and, especially, a no-bid contract for the 2026 World Cup to stave off a potential lawsuit) has seen Fox embrace a winter World Cup, as its first commercial for the tournament has shown.
Jon Hamm plays Santa Claus in the spot, and he’s alerted to the uncomfortable reality that the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are about to encroach on what normally is his “time to shine.”
The World Cup kicks off on November 21 and concludes on December 18, meaning the Thanksgiving and Christmas season will, for the first time ever, feature a hefty dose of World Cup soccer on the side. Hopefully Santa can find time in his busy schedule to catch a few games.
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