Levi’s leans in to absurd FIFA requirement that stadium names be changed

Landing the World Cup included complying with plenty of FIFA requirements, including covering up the names of the 11 NFL stadiums that are hosting matches.

Levi’s has leaned to the absurdity of it all, by covering the logo on its Instagram account.

When Levi’s Stadium hosted its first World Cup match on Sunday, Levi’s posted a photo of the covered logo above the scoreboard, with this message: “Welcoming the world to the beautiful [redacted] stadium!”

The owners of the stadiums had no choice but to comply with that requirement and other FIFA terms, which included installing FIFA-quality grass and scrapping all over events for the weeks during which the stadiums were surrendered to the World Cup.

Yes, FIFA doesn’t want non-FIFA sponsors to get exposure during the World Cup. The end result is strange, to say the least, with the venues official known only by the city they’re in — and with the remaining signage confirming in Dwight Schrute style the fact that, indeed, it is a stadium.