Team USA Closer to $2.5 Billion Sponsorship Goal With AB Deal
Fewer than 200 days from the start of the Paris Olympics, Team USA and LA28 have inked a major beer sponsorship deal with Anheuser-Busch that calls for Michelob Ultra to become its exclusive rights sponsor for the Olympic Games through the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Michelob Ultra will separately become the official beer for the LA28 Games.
The long-term deal, which includes the Summer Olympics in Paris and the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, more importantly provides much-needed momentum for the U.S. Olympic committee, which has been slow to secure major partnerships four years out from the first summer Olympics in the U.S. since Atlanta in 1996. LA28 organizers, Team USA and Comcast (a founding partner of LA28) have targeted a $2.5 billion domestic corporate sponsorship goal and filling out its beer category with AB InBev (NYSE: BUD) helps inch them closer to that.
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Anheuser-Busch is joining Team USA’s top-tier sponsors Delta Inc. (NYSE: DAL) and Salesforce Inc., done via joint venture between with LA28, USOPC and Comcast. While Comcast participated in those founding partner deals, sharing economics, the media conglomerate wasn’t involved in this AB deal, according to a source.
Anheuser-Busch—which recently inked sponsorship deals with other sports properties, including Copa America and Professional Bull Riders—is doubling down on its commitment to the Olympic Games. The beer giant is also inking a separate deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that makes it a worldwide partner through 2028. It remains unclear which brand will be the main face of Anheuser-Busch’s global partnership.
As part of the deal, Michelob Ultra will roll out Team USA custom packaging highlighting partnerships with the U.S. men’s and women’s national soccer teams leading up to and throughout Paris 2024.
Anheuser-Busch previously had a 32-year relationship with Team USA which ended when the contract ran out in 2017 after the Rio Summer Olympics. Now Anheuser-Busch is back, not only retaking its previous position as the exclusive beer provider for Team USA, but also joining Visa, Coca-Cola and others as IOC partners.
The return of Anheuser-Busch comes as LA28 is experiencing major changes in leadership. The organizing committee is seeking a CEO after Kathy Carter stepped down from her post last month. Carter, who took her CEO post in 2021, has since switched to a senior advisor role with LA28.
To avoid cross-competition, all Team USA and LA28 partnerships are being sold out of the joint venture in the lead up to Los Angeles Summer Games. All 20-plus sponsorship deals expired after the Tokyo Olympics which set up an eight-year window for the venture to commercialize the rights.
It has resulted in just a few partners at the top tier (Delta, Salesforce, AB) as well as lower-tier deals with Fanatics, Nike, Ralph Lauren and others. While the Paris Games can be viewed as a halfway point, the LA28 games are most valuable of all.
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