Molson Coors President & CEO Peter Swinburn yesterday said that once the NHL lockout ends, the company “will seek financial compensation from the league over the negative impact that a lack of games has had on the hockey league sponsor,” according to Ross Marowits of the CP. Swinburn said, “There will be some redress for us as a result of this. I can't quantify that and I don't know because I don't know the scale of how long the lockout is going to last." Molson Coors said that the lockout has “forced the beer company into the penalty box by reducing beer sales across Canada for its marquee brands.” Swinburn: "Whether it's people not actually physically going to the venues and consuming there, consuming in venues around the outlet before that, or indeed having NHL sort of parties at home, all of those occasions have disappeared off the map and you just can't replicate them." The impact of the lockout is “more pronounced in Canada than in the United States and has particularly hurt sales of Coors Light and Molson Canadian” (CP, 11/7). University of Ottawa professor Norm O’Reilly said that “repairing the relationship with Molson-Coors will be a top priority for the league whenever the lockout ends, especially considering that Geoff Molson owns the Montreal Canadiens” (TORONTO STAR, 11/8).
