Anheuser-Busch Stays With U.S. Olympic Committee Sponsorship

Anheuser-Busch’s first Olympic sponsorship came at the Los Angeles Olympics. (ATR) Just days after beverage giant InBev sealed a deal to buy Anheuser-Busch, the St. Louis brewer announces that it will renew its sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Team through 2012.

"No sporting event or property embraces the American passion for pure competition and athleticism like the U.S. Olympic Team and the Olympic Games,” says vp for global media and sports marketing Tony Ponturo.

The announcement would appear to answer questions in the sports marketing industry about A-B’s continued commitment to the sponsorships it holds. These include the U.S. Olympic Committee as well as two dozen other NOCs and organizing committees, such as Beijing 2008.

Belgium-based InBev will pay $52 billion for A-B, one of the iconic businesses of the U.S. The deal secures a spot for InBev in the U.S. market, biggest in the world for beer, where A-B products command a 49 percent share of beer sales.

Anheuser-Busch has been a partner of the USOC for 13 consecutive Olympics, spanning more than 20 years. In the past decade, A-B has moved into international sponsorships connected with the Olympics, in Turin and now in Beijing. A-B is also a part-owner of Tsingtao, the Chinese brewer that also is a 2008 Olympics sponsor.

Executives with A-B say their company’s investment in sports sponsorship is one of the reasons Inbev wants to buy the U.S. beer maker.

"They're not going to walk away from it and sports are so important for reaching consumers with us, and we're going to maintain the relationships and sponsorships that we have that work," vp for marketing Dave Peacock is quoted by AP.

Ponturo says spending on sports under the new owners might even go up.

“It’s business as usual,” he’s quoted in the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

InBev has said it wants to shed some A-B’s non-beer enterprises such as theme parks and packaging as a way to help recover the costs of the deal. A-B was already in the midst of cost-cutting when InBev first approached months ago. Industry experts say that more cuts are likely once InBev takes control later this year.

The deal with Anheuser-Busch follows announcements earlier this year of renewals with Hilton and Nike and could be the biggestto be closed so far under the watch of Rick Burton. He came aboard the USOC last year to fill the long-open marketing director slot.

ATR understands that the USOC is close to announcing other sponsorships, despite difficult times. Home Depot, one of the major USOC sponsors, is fighting slumping sales as it considers whether to renew. Another sponsor, Bank of America, has faced earnings declines for one year linked to the credit market. Its CEO says he expects the U.S. economy to remain in the doldrums for another year.

The woes of the U.S. auto industry will be felt by the USOC later this year, when GM’s sponsorship ends. Neither Ford nor Chrysler, the only other U.S. automakers, seem to be in any position to pick up the Olympic sponsorship dropped by the industry number-one.

The amount of the A-B deal with the USOC was not disclosed, but one sports marketing expertfamilar with the deal suggests that the company may be paying less than it did for its previous sponsorship, due to the weak U.S. market. A sponsorship such as Anheuser Busch’s could cost in thee range of $10 million to $20 million, plus multiples of that figure for activation.

Written by Ed Hula

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with the USOC could cost upwards of $20 million, plus multiples of that figure for activation.