Spain wasn’t the only World Cup winner

After 100+ matches and 100 million memes, the World Cup concluded yesterday. Spain outlasted Argentina in extra time to win 1–0, thanks to a defense that snuffed out more shot attempts than a locked liquor cabinet. But while Spanish players got to hoist the shiny World Cup trophy over their heads, they weren’t the only ones that went home with gold.Governing party: FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, is expected to announce record World Cup revenue of $15 billion from this year’s tournament, easily topping the $11 billion it had projected, according to the Guardian. Part of that comes from the decision to implement dynamic pricing, and the fact that FIFA gets a cut from ticket sales in the secondary market. Yahoo, citing Gametime, reported the median price for a ticket to the final match was a record $10,835.OK, so besides FIFA…Bank of America’s CEO estimated that the World Cup generated about $20 billion in economic activity in the US, with restaurants and bars among the biggest winners. According to the Beer Institute trade association:Beer sales spiked 4% nationally during the first four weeks of the World Cup, compared to the same period last year.They jumped 14% in host cities (looking at you, Tartan Army).On brand: According to MediaRadar, brands spent at least $857 million during the tournament’s matches, the Sports Business Journal reported. And Fox Sports, which owned the US broadcast rights, raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars per 30-second ad. Jerseys flew off the shelves, too—even the counterfeit ones that spell Messi with a “Y.”What about the future? Before the final started, more than $1.2 billion was traded on Kalshi, just on the question of who would win the World Cup, CNBC reported. Over the course of the tournament, the prediction platform said it netted 3 million new users.Not everybody won. Workforce platform UKG projected in June that the tournament could end up costing US employers $11.7 billion in lost productivity. Well, maybe if the semifinal games didn’t start at 3pm ET…—BC