Getting paid to watch the World Cup sounds like the kind of dream job that simply should not exist.
Imagine you could walk away from work, sink into a comfortable chair and pocket $50,000 to take in every single game of this summer’s tournament. Well, that is exactly what happened to Kevin Kotoko and Austin Franklin, two football fans now living out the envy of supporters everywhere.
The pair beat thousands of hopefuls to become Fox’s official World Cup watchers for the next six weeks. The only catch? They have to do all of their viewing from inside a custom-built glass cube planted in Times Square.
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A ‘perfect job’ watching the World Cup in the heart of New York City, but…
Kotoko, a Liverpool fan from Florida, was working as a waiter when he learned he had been chosen from the thousands who uploaded audition videos to social media. He did not need long to make up his mind.
Recalling the moment, Kotoko told The Guardian: “I quit my job. I found out on Thursday that I had won the competition, so I told them on Friday that it would be my last day.”
He shares the giant fishbowl with Franklin, an influencer from Philadelphia, for the duration of the tournament. Between them, the pair are tasked with creating social media content, recording their reactions and engaging with fans across all 104 fixtures.
Franklin said: “It has really felt a bit like being on the Truman Show. I forget at times that we’re here. I’m watching a game for a few minutes and then I look over at Kevin and see people on top of me.
“There’s 30 people watching us, watching games, most of the time. It is a weird experience.”
The perks help. A nice hotel around the corner, and food inspired by each competing nation is served up inside the cube.
The expanded 48-team format means this is a marathon rather than a sprint, with four matches a day spread across three time zones throughout the group stage. Even so, neither man is finding much to grumble about.
Franklin said: “I’m sitting on a couch, watching football. It’s pretty fun. There is something about the spirit of the World Cup that takes over. We have pretty much the perfect job.”
Six weeks in a glass box with the world peering in might not suit everyone — but with a five-figure paycheck and the World Cup on a loop, it is not a bad way to spend the summer.
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