Rooney rows Hudson River with BBC pundits after World Cup bet

Wayne Rooney took to the Hudson River in New York with BBC pundits Joe Hart and Micah Richards after a World Cup wager that had begun with the River Mersey. The BBC Sport segment, billed as "It's the Wayne Row-ney Show!", showed all three in lifejackets as Rooney paid off a promise made when Norway beat Brazil 2-1 in the last 16.

Rooney had said during the tournament that he would row down the River Mersey in Liverpool if Norway won. Norway did exactly that, and Rooney later confirmed live on air that he would take on the challenge in the United States instead. BBC Sport then framed the row as Rooney honouring his word, with a related video describing him as "a man of his word."

The choice of the Hudson River, not the Mersey, turned the payoff into more than a private joke. It placed three retired England names, Rooney, Hart and Richards, into a short-form broadcast built for broad appeal, mixing banter, visual gimmick and a football story that still had Norway and Brazil at its centre. BBC Sport’s related video said the trio rowed on the Hudson to honour Rooney’s word to Erling Haaland, while an associated clip teased Haaland saying "Wayney boy!" and wanting to see Rooney row.

That kind of content has become increasingly useful for broadcasters trying to sell soccer to a wider American audience ahead of major U.S.-hosted events. Instead of just match analysis, the format leans on recognisable personalities, small bets and location-based spectacle to keep football in the conversation between games. In Rooney’s case, the wager linked a World Cup result, a star striker in Haaland and a New York river crossing into a single piece of entertainment.

The stunt also underlined how broadcast soccer now packages former players as on-screen personalities as much as analysts. Rooney, Hart and Richards were not shown simply revisiting the result; they were turned into the story itself, a format designed to travel well on digital clips and keep the sport visible beyond the pitch.