Pepsi "is not renewing" its partnership with Citi Field, so a sign that is "easily one of the park’s most indelible -- and valuable -- sponsor assets" will disappear before the Mets play another home game, according to Terry Lefton in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The 37-by-89-foot Pepsi sign "has adorned the top of Citi Field’s right field wall and demarcated the 9,000-square-foot Pepsi Porch since the ballpark opened" in '09, with Pepsi serving as one of the ballpark’s "original signature partner sponsors." Earlier this year, Pepsi "quietly renewed with the Yankees, where it has held rights" since '09. Pepsi "is ponying up significantly more dollars for a top-shelf legacy partner deal" that the Cubs are using to help pay for $575M in improvements "inside and outside of 101-year-old Wrigley Field." It is an effort to "update the ballpark and transform Wrigleyville into a year-round destination." The Cubs' legacy deals "are big tickets (one agency source told us they start in the mid-seven figures) but they are packaged with prime assets." Coca-Cola "has some interest" in the Mets' vacant beverage category, and Anheuser-Busch, "is close to renewing" with the team (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 11/10 issue). In Newark, Mike Vorkunov notes the "exact end" of Pepsi's current sponsorship deal with the Mets "is unclear." The sign "was still up this weekend when Citi Field held a cricket event" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 11/10).
