Major League Baseball, Budweiser in New Deal
With the addition of a one-game playoff between the two best runners-up in each league, Major League Baseball made an offer that one of its biggest advertisers could not refuse. Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (NYSE: BUD) has agreed to be a…
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
The estimated costs of the deal total $40 million, according to report at MarketWatch, though neither the company nor MLB would comment on the value of the deal.
A Budweiser spokesman said:
We asked the people at MLB what else can we do to promote the sport and connect ourselves with the fans. This is our No. 1 platform — baseball is the sport that Budweiser is most heavily invested in.
The answer to the question, apparently, is to add more games to the season’s already interminable 162-game schedule. More games, more opportunities to sell advertising. Playoff games in baseball, as in every other sport, attract more attention than regular season games, so adding a few more games that have postseason implications is sure to gin up plenty of interest. From a fan’s point of view, the new games give a couple of also-rans a second chance to wipe out the previous 162 games.
That’s either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on one’s point of view. But from a commercial point of view, it’s definitely a bonus.
Paul Ausick
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
