The World Cup final has never needed additional entertainment to justify its global standing, because the match itself has always been enough.
For decades, the players, the history, and the occasion commanded attention without any supporting spectacle or manufactured cultural moment around them.
Fifa has now changed that by staging the first ever World Cup final half-time show, a decision that has made many observers feel distinctly uncomfortable.
Madonna, Shakira, BTS, and Justin Bieber will headline an 11-minute performance in New Jersey on Sunday, with Burna Boy, Gustavo Dudamel, and the PS22 Chorus also appearing, alongside Coldplay.
The biggest sporting events are no longer competing only with one another, but with streaming platforms, music, gaming, and every other form of entertainment fighting for audience attention.
The modern fan does not separate sport from culture as neatly as previous generations did, following a club, an artist, a label, and a streamer with equal intensity.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino understands that the final is not merely a match, but one of the few genuinely global live moments capable of bringing billions of people together at once.
The commercial opportunity is much larger than selling sponsorship around 90 minutes of football, extending to turning the entire occasion into a global entertainment property.
Each artist on the bill serves a strategic purpose, with Madonna offering cross-generational recognition, Shakira carrying a long-standing association with the tournament, and BTS commanding one of the most powerful international fan communities in entertainment.
This is not simply booking famous musicians, but what entrepreneur and brand builder Simon Dent describes as audience architecture, with each artist bringing a different geography, generation, and fandom into the game.
Dent, who has more than 20 years of experience across sport, entertainment, and the creative industries, argues that Fifa must nonetheless proceed with significant caution throughout this process.
Football cannot simply copy and paste the Super Bowl model, because the World Cup carries its own traditions and emotional weight that demand a different kind of respect.
Eleven minutes may sound brief, but any interruption risks irritating supporters if it feels contrived or excessively commercial, particularly given how unpopular mid-game pauses have already proved this summer.
Football fans, unlike American football fans, are not accustomed to structured breaks, with half-time traditionally used for a pee, pint, or fag break rather than a curated live performance.
Authenticity will ultimately determine whether this becomes a genuine landmark or an expensive gimmick that alienates the very audience it is designed to expand.
Sponsorship can no longer consist of placing a logo beside a famous event and expecting audiences to care, as brands now need to create something that contributes to culture rather than simply borrowing attention from it.
This show recognises a commercial reality that the game has already been moving toward, with clubs becoming media businesses, players becoming creators, and matches becoming platforms for entertainment, fashion, and music.
The game will always be the main event, and the opportunity is to build a wider cultural moment around it without diminishing what happens between the two nations on the pitch.