AB-Bust

While Anheuser-Busch is considered an American company, it is now being acquired by inBev and will be part of a strong global conglomerate. Is this good or bad news for sports? My take is that it is bad news. The more competition the better for sports since companies will compete against each other for the best properties and to buy the best opportunities. While the beverage competition will decrease, the word on the street is that InBev will try to make its money through reducing costs and watching every penny. That can signal a major disaster for sports in the US. According to a USA Today article A-B spent $218 million on sport advertising in 2007 and an additional $300 million on sport sponsorship. When you add the total impact of A-B it is more than 1/2 a billion dollars. If that budget is cut in half over the next couple years (combined with a down economy), the entire sport industry could be left searching for another sugar daddy.
Gil-

Limited Naming Rights- is it a new trend?

The following was a recent article from Veritix Sport Marketing Newsletter (www.veritix.com) and it might be a new trend. If internationally companies do not know the value of naming rights, this could be a way to test drive the concept at a minimal cost.

Stadium naming rights in condensed form: The St. Paul Saints professional baseball team have announced that their ballpark, Midway Stadium, will be renamed Skinny Water Stadium for one week in August as part of a unique one-week stadium rights deal struck between Skinny Nutritional Corp. and the owners of the St. Paul Saints, The Goldklang Group. Skinny Water Stadium is set to be unveiled for the week of August 3-9. All facets of a typical stadium rights deal will be condensed into one week, with the addition of “multiple new and creative twists on the concept,” according to the team. The team will sport Skinny uniforms for their new stadium sponsor and the Skinny logo will be branded directly on the outfield, and around the pitcher’s mound and home plate. “Our group set out to create a truly unique opportunity for one of our corporate partners. Skinny Water asked us to develop a way to increase awareness of their product while simultaneously allowing them to promote their brand with a major splash,” says Tyler Tumminia, vice president of integrated marketing for The Goldklang Group. “Spawned from the recent and extremely fluid craze of naming rights within the industry, we developed a plan to condense such a deal into one homestand. Skinny will enjoy a ‘full throttle’ promotional and branding platform at their own stadium for the week, and shall have the ability to educate thousands of fans about their water.”