If you’ve been watching the FIFA World Cup, you’ve probably noticed that things look a bit different.
Some of that is just us Americans getting used to soccer (and all of the advertising—I mean, “hydration” breaks). However, if you look closely and listen carefully, you’ll see that even familiar stadiums look and sound slightly different. Are we all just going to pretend that it’s normal to call SoFi Stadium “Los Angeles Stadium”? It’s in Inglewood!
While some of these changes are minor, FIFA’s other attempts to remove branding have led to some funny situations, as one TikTok user recently shared.
What’s Going On With This FIFA World Cup Stadium?
In a video with over 5.8 million views, TikTok user Dylan Gold (@dylangold) shows himself at a FIFA World Cup game. While he’s surrounded by fans, one thing that viewers won’t be able to see around him is the names of any non-FIFA-affiliated brands.
“It’s actually crazy,” Gold says.
After a second, he shows the condiment dispensers. While they have the shape of Heinz condiment dispensers, all logos have been covered with black tape.
“They blocked off all the labels for the condiments,” Gold summarizes. “No free sponsors at the World Cup.”
He then shows the scoreboard. Although the game is held at Levi’s Stadium, the Levi’s logo has been covered.
“They even blocked off Levi’s, the stadium sponsor,” Gold says.
In an email to BroBible, Gold said that he “didn’t notice any other major covered or altered branding beyond what was shown in the video,” but noted that he “wasn’t specifically looking for it.”
“Nobody at the stadium mentioned or explained it to me,” he added. “It seemed like something fans were noticing on their own and discussing amongst themselves.”
Why Are All These Logos Covered?
Gold isn’t the first to notice this logo-hiding. In fact, after the Levi’s logo on the stadium was covered, Levi’s changed its profile picture on TikTok to the shape of the covered stadium logo.
Why is all of this happening? According to Jeroen van den Berk, a member of FIFA’s communications team, it’s because FIFA games must be held in a “clean stadium” in order to protect the rights of the organization’s sponsors.
This means that, when a World Cup game is held in a stadium, all non-FIFA-affiliated branding must be removed, covered, or minimized so only the organization’s partners get the exposure they paid for. This is why the stadium itself, which is usually called “Levi’s Stadium,” is referred to only as San Francisco Bay Area Stadium during the World Cup.
Do They Have To Cover Everything?
While many understand the desire to hide the major brands, some may question if covering everything, including the condiment dispensers, is taking things a little too far.
In FIFA’s mind, it isn’t. After all, there’s more to the FIFA World Cup than what’s shown on TV. Attendees see more of the stadium than the average TV viewer — and like to post videos of their experience watching the games on social media.
FIFA knows this and uses it as a pitch to potential advertisers. The official FIFA partner page advertises that sponsors will get “exposure in and around the stadium” and “ambush marketing promotion.” Allowing some brands to get these benefits for free cheapens the offer for those looking to sponsor the events.
Viewers Think It’s A Bit Much
No matter FIFA’s reasoning for its decision, some commenters believe that the organization has taken things a bit too far.
“What stage of capitalism is this,” said a user.
“Its dead— THEIR stadium,” added another. “why should Levi’s Stadium be forced to cover their logo.”
“Bro i’m working the world cup i had to buy adidas bc showing up in a competitor brand can get u sent home,” alleged a third.
Others noted that covering brands in this blatant way may create a “Streisand effect.” This is when an attempt to draw attention away from something actually draws more attention to it.
“Marketer here, Levis won,” declared a commenter.
“I feel like everything getting blocked off is literally giving them more publicity than if it wasn’t blocked lmfao,” offered a further TikToker.
After his video went viral, Gold told BroBible the resultant debate surprised him.
“Most of the comments were people arguing back and forth about whether FIFA was justified in covering the branding or not,” he stated. “In my experience, when a video becomes controversial and gets people debating in the comments, that’s usually what drives it to take off.”
As for the idea that this brand redaction could bring more attention to the brands in question, he says it’s “absolutely” possible.
“I don’t think most people would have paid attention to the Levi’s logo at all if it hadn’t been covered. The attempt to hide it ended up making it the focal point of the conversation,” he shared. “What’s even more interesting is that Levi’s turned it into a marketing campaign. Their social media profile pictures now feature their logo covered by a white tarp, and they’ve even put the same covered-logo design on trucks. The situation ended up generating far more attention for the brand than it likely would have received otherwise.”
@dylangold free @Levi’s #worldcup #fifaworldcup #fifaworldcup2026 #bayarea #levisstadium
BroBible reached out to FIFA via email.