Businesspeople, small merchants, and café and restaurant owners all have sighed with relief as national television VTV on June 8 announced it had acquired 2018 World Cup broadcasting rights.

The one-kilometer section of road in Binh Tan district in HCMC has become busy these days as cafes and restaurants make hectic preparations for the World Cup. 

Thuy Hang, the owner of a café, said her family has been preparing for the last month.

“We were afraid that the projector we leased at VND1 million a day would be left idle if VTV could not acquire broadcasting rights. But now everything is okay,” she said.

During 2014 World Cup days, the revenue of her café was 20 times higher than ordinary days. Hang hopes it will be even higher this year thanks to the negotiation for broadcasting copyrights.

The owners of beer gardens on Pham Van Dong street in Thu Duc district said they decided to store more beer and cigarettes and hire more workers to prepare for the World Cup season.

“The revenue will increase by VND20 million at least each night,” one of them told reporters.

The acquisition of broadcasting rights ‘in the 89th minute’ has caused a headache to media companies and big brands.Staff at the companies now have to work day and night to run important programs.

BN, a media executive of a large beverage company, said she has to book ads for the launch of new products, so that ads can appear on World Cup tournament days. 

In addition, she and her colleagues also have geared up to organize a lot of events on the occasion of the tournament.

“I have to work extra hours these days and I can only leave the office at night,” she complained.

Meanwhile, travel firms said the tours to Russia have been fully booked.

Vietravel reported that over 600 travelers have booked tours to watch football matches in Russia. 

The tickets for watching the finals have sold out, but tickets for semifinals are still available. The tour fee is between VND74 and VND80 million for nearly 10 days, not including the ticket to football matches.

However, an analyst said it is now too late to book tours to Russia to watch football matches, because the procedures are complicated. It takes 5-6 weeks to get a FanID alone. 

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Thanh Mai