Budweiser Spends $39 Million on FA Cup; nearly the same on entire US game

It was announced Thursday that St Louis-based (now Belgium-owned) Anheuser-Busch has signed a three-year deal with the English FA to sponsor the association’s newly named ‘FA Cup with Budweiser.’ The deal was announced at £8million per year, or the equivalent of $39 million US dollars to for the entire package.

The new look of the FA Cup trophy

It is a not exactly a shocking deal when you consider the sponsorship money that is thrown around the world’s major sports.

In soccer, Heineken recently renewed its UEFA Champions League deal through 2014/15 reportedly for between $28.5 to $57 million total, or per season depending on the source. On top of that, Heineken even signed a three-year deal with ESPNSoccernet, though terms were not released. In addition, the Coors Brewers sponsorship of the Carling Cup through 2012 is valued at $9 million a year for $27 million overall. 

So why is the, ironically named for this situation, ‘King of Beers’ replacing E.ON (a German utility company)? Well, it is to expand the global reach of the FA Cup, according to FA General Secretary Alex Horne, who is pleased that the tournament will reach new heights in world-wide marketing compared to E.ON’s primarily local efforts in the UK.

In addition to the marketing there are a couple of programs included in the deal. One is the now standard ‘responsible drinking’ campaign for fans and the other is a community program that will assist teams playing in the early rounds with acquiring equipment.

That second part is absolutely something this sport could dearly use right here in the birthplace of Anheuser-Busch. Could you imagine someone signing on with US Soccer as the ‘Builder of American Soccer,’ helping grow the club game in the United States through the US Open Cup and the grassroots level.

For just 10 percent of the value of the deal for the FA Cup or lesser known Carling Cup, A-B or some other sponsor could have a dramatic affect on the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. The prize money could be significantly raised to increase the importance for MLS clubs to win the tournament, and, more importantly, the travel costs incurred by USSF to assist primarily the lower division clubs would likely be completely covered.

And for being the first to do it, no doubt Budweiser would become a hero to the soccer fans in American, many of whom enjoy other, usually foreign, brands of beer much like they do their soccer viewing. Sure, everyone knows Budweiser is a long-time sponsor of the game in the United States, but at some point it just becomes a monotonous presence. A significant deal with the US Open Cup would create a splash that would renew the presence of the brand in the American game.

It would certainly have a better affect than it’s two-year $500,000 deal with Major League Lacrosse (a primarily east coast league/sport) in 2009 just months after the league suffered a difficult season that saw it lose five teams.  The US Open Cup would give the brand national exposure from the top flight MLS to the grassroots amateur league teams, some of whom in the USASA are Sunday-league teams comprised of friends and colleagues that ‘play and drink’ together. Could you find a better place for a beer sponsor?

So, if Budweiser is spending $40m on the FA Cup, Heineken $28m+ on the Champions League and Coors Brewers $27m on the Carling Cup, what is being spent in the United States you ask?

Well, for A-B that would be… $40 million. And that’s not just for one event like the FA Cup, but for Major League Soccer and – via the league ownership’s marketing/events arm Soccer United Marketing – the Mexican Football Federation’s events in the United States and, more importantly, the United States Soccer Federation’s Men’s and Women’s National Teams along with global rights to USSF involvement in World Cup events and the Olympics in 2012. 

That is a four-year deal at $10 million per year. A-B is currently spending slightly more for virtually all of the significant American soccer properties in total than they just spent on the FA Cup ($8 million) alone. The sad thing for SUM is that it just renewed the deal, which means it will have to wait another two or three years before negotiations begin anew for another extension.

With MLS at new heights and qualifying for the next men’s FIFA World Cup just around the corner, perhaps it was time to reach for the clouds and put out a price well beyond the previous deals. With the willingness of these brewing companies to double bids of previous deals, who knows what could have been. They certainly have money to spend with a reported revenue for 2009 of nearly $37 billion for A-B.

For instance, domestically the NFL just announced its first ‘billion-dollar’ deal with A-B in a stunning bidding process that saw MillerCoors walking away at the sticker shock. A-B and the NFL struck a six-year deal starting in 2011 worth reportedly $1.2 billion (twice the previous MillerCoors deal) that includes rights fees, marketing, media and team spending commitments. On top of that, A-B also already had separate existing deals with 28 of the 32 teams.

In 2008, Miller Brewing Co. (MillerCoors) signed a 12-year deal with the Cowboys, and its club-operated Cowboys Stadium, for a reported $8 million a year.

Oh, and the ‘fourth’ biggest sport in the US just signed a deal a few months ago for nearly $400 million through a seven-year run, giving MillerCoors the NHL rights in the US and MolsonCoors the Canadian portion.

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