Bad News For Beer and Baseball Fans

Budweiser extended it’s agreement with Major League Baseball by six years.  This isn’t a new deal, it’s more than 30 years old, but the renewal of it may represent a lack of progress towards getting craft beer recognition at ballparks.

 

It’s fairly obvious that the big beer brands, including Budweiser, would rather the beer drinking public of America be as they feature it on television.  Beer as mostly flavorless sustenance that is almost mandatory to have at any viewing of a sporting event.  Leaving aside arguments that this reinforces the “Get drunk and belligerent” at ballgames attitude, because those people are looking for a place to party regardless of the entertainment provided.  The ballgame is usually secondary to these people and it’s pointless to blame it on the beer and unfair to the rest of us that want to enjoy a beverage.  Which is the point; there is a growing subset of fans that want to enjoy a beer at a game that’s a well-crafted tasty drink the same way fans in new ballparks are enjoying cuisine beyond hot dogs and peanuts these days.

 

Even if rumors of Budweiser actively pursuing ways to shut down craft beer taps, and not just at ballparks, are mostly exaggerated, Budweiser can afford to pay the big bucks for the prime real estate at a venue.  This often means craft beer has to be almost hidden among kiosks and specialty stands in other areas.  Don’t be confused by Big Apple Brews; while there are some good beers there, they’re all distributed by Anhauser Busch/InBev.

 

Even with Budweiser being the big player in beer at baseball games, craft beer has been making inroads more and more.  Hopefully this continues.

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