The World Cup, that quadrennial collision of nationalism and commerce, has always promised its sponsors two things: vast television audiences and streets full of free-spending tourists in branded apparel. This year, it appears, they may have to settle for one.

Though attendance at the tournament is expected to reach record levels, the share of those spectators traveling from abroad has fallen well short of what organizers and their backers had anticipated. The reasons are various — ticket prices that surprised even the president, who learned last month that a basic seat commands $1,000, plus the usual frictions of international travel to a host country that has made entry somewhat more complicated than it once was.

For the companies that have committed many millions of dollars to official sponsorships, this might seem like cause for alarm. It is not, apparently, cause for alarm.

The reasoning, according to those familiar with the sponsors' thinking, is that the World Cup's value has never really depended on how many Argentines or Germans buy hot dogs in the parking lot. The television audience — measured in the billions across linear broadcasts, streaming platforms, and whatever device happens to be propped up on a desk during working hours — remains intact. So does the opportunity to festoon every available surface with logos.

(Whether this constitutes a full return on investment, or merely a defensible one, may depend on how the holding companies' procurement consultants feel about it.)

Fox Sports, which holds the domestic broadcast rights, has spent considerable effort ensuring that viewers can find the matches on whichever screen suits them, a strategy that acknowledges the modern reality that "appointment television" now means "whatever appointment your phone calendar allows."

The sponsors, in any case, seem content. Which is perhaps the most reliable indicator that the business of the World Cup remains healthy, whatever the customs lines may suggest.

Original story published in adweek.com: "Foreign Fans Are Skipping the World Cup. Sponsors Aren't Worried."