Over-Cooked: Burger King May End Corporate Sponsorship of NFL

Burger King To Exit Deal With NFL After This Season

Burger King, in its third year as an NFL corporate sponsor, "will exit the deal when it concludes" after this season, according to industry sources cited by Terry Lefton in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL.  Other sources said that the NFL "has already been reaching out to other prospective" QSR sponsors. Sources said BK was frustrated with the sponsorship because of "the inability of the NFL to deliver local rights," as the "value of the BK/NFL association had been questioned by some franchisees for the duration of the deal."  Additionally, BK's ad agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Miami, "was never satisfied with the amount of leeway it was given when integrating" the company's King spokescharacter into NFL ads (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 12/3 issue).