Forty Percent Of Hong Kong's Bars Have Abandoned Broadcasting Of The Football World Cup Due To Strict Quarantine Measures

About 40 percent of Hong Kong bar owners have decided not to buy broadcast rights to the men's World Cup soccer tournament, which kicks off in Qatar on Nov. 20, fearing strict quarantine measures will keep fans away.

Hong Kong residents have flocked to bars and restaurants for World Cup soccer matches in the past, but this year's event may not be possible due to the ongoing quarantine measures, local media reported Wednesday.

Currently, the Hong Kong government allows restaurants to stay open until 12 midnight and bars to stay open until 2 a.m., while nine of the 48 group matches of this year's 64 World Cup matches will be played at 12 a.m. Hong Kong time and 14 at 3 a.m. The final will be held on December 18 at 11pm Hong Kong time, with the two semi-finals on December 14 and 15 at 3am Hong Kong time. If social distancing measures are not further relaxed by then, it will be difficult to get to the food and beverage venues for these events.

'Currently, less than 100 of the 400 bar members of the Hong Kong Bar Association will broadcast all the events, while the remaining members, at least about 150, have decided not to buy a TV program,' said Mr. Chin, chairman of the association. In other words, about 40% of pubs have abandoned the World Cup.

He explained that most of the World Cup will take place in the wee hours of Hong Kong time, but because of the quarantine restrictions that require bars to close at 2am, they are worried that they will have to "close halfway" during the broadcast of the games and spoil the day for customers. A person in charge of a bar also said that the broadcasting contract fee offered by the TV station to the bar amounted to more than HK $30,000 (over US $3,800), nearly double that of the last one. It is expected that the attracting capacity of the broadcast of the World Cup may be greatly reduced, so they will not consider broadcasting the tournament.