{"id":492790,"date":"2026-06-24T05:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T05:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/492790\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T05:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T05:54:11","slug":"dream-job-us-football-fans-paid-to-watch-every-world-cup-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/492790\/","title":{"rendered":"Dream job: US football fans paid to watch every World Cup game"},"content":{"rendered":"

It might just be the greatest job in the world.<\/p>\n

But for the two American men being paid US$50,000 (NZ$88,000) to watch every one of the 104 games of the World Cup over 39 days, it is a labour of love.<\/p>\n

Austin Franklin, 29, and Kevin Akoto, 26, perform their dream task in a temporary fishbowl studio with glass walls on three sides in the heart of Manhattan’s Times Square.<\/p>\n

Enthusiastic fans crowd around the cube to watch the games on two 2.1 metre TVs as Franklin and Akoto lounge on sofas inside.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Fans outside the temporary studio today.<\/p>\n

AFP \/ Timothy A Clary<\/p>\n

Akoto quit his job and broke up with his partner to take up the “chief World Cup watcher” role, meant to generate excitement around the once-every-four-years event being hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n

“The employer took it well, the individual not so well, but that’s okay,” Akoto said on Tuesday (US time).<\/p>\n

“There’s obviously some games that are duds – that’s gonna happen, obviously, but you have your exciting games as well,” said Akoto, who hails from Florida.<\/p>\n

The pair are paid by Fox, one of the tournament’s broadcasters, which selected them from a field of thousands of fans who submitted video applications.<\/p>\n

The rectangular studio also has a foosball table, a small table and stools, an astroturf rug and walls adorned with the colourful scarves of national teams.<\/p>\n

The high-profile gig has thrown up memorable moments for the pair, including a crowd of hundreds of Brazil<\/a> fans crowding the plaza in front of their box. One woman threw a shoe at their enclosure.<\/p>\n

“The Brazil fans were just incredible, happy, good vibes – a good time,” Franklin said. “That’s just a memory I’ll have with me for the rest of my life.”<\/p>\n

Akoto, who sported a Portugal cap for the side’s clash against Uzbekistan on Tuesday, had built a “CR7” Cristiano Ronaldo Lego set.<\/p>\n

“Finally on the board – what a strike!” he exclaimed as the Portuguese forward scored the first of two goals in a 5-0 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite their gruelling viewing schedule, the pair insist they are not tired of spending time together.<\/p>\n

“I’m a pretty negative person,” Akoto said. “It’s nice to have someone positive, someone who’s like a little bit different from you, who can bring that energy,” said Akoto of his new colleague.<\/p>\n

Should the hydration breaks, video reviews or half-time shows lag, the cube has been equipped with distractions including an Ultimate Football Quiz and a deck of Uno cards.<\/p>\n

Franklin, from Massachusetts, said he was “really excited to have two games on at once,” at the end of the group stage when two matches happen simultaneously.<\/p>\n

“There is a certain energy around having a World Cup in your country,” he said. “And who knows, we’ll see what the United States can do here.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It might just be the greatest job in the world. But for the two American men being paid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-492790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}