Australian Football League clubs "could win the power to negotiate their own beer deals after the competition's most enduring sponsor has significantly cut its multi-million dollar arrangement with the league," according to Caroline Wilson of THE AGE. Carlton United Breweries has reduced its AFL contract midway through its latest 10-year deal "in an occasionally testy negotiation which saw CUB accuse the league of last year promoting a rival beer company" at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. While both parties have denied the incident led to the brewer cutting its AFL deal reportedly by one third, the negotiations reportedly "were punctuated by some acrimony." AFL Commercial Operations Manager Darren Birch said that it "remained unclear whether clubs would now have the opportunity to negotiate their own beer rights." He said the league would work with clubs "to look how we can responsibly maximise the beer category." Birch said that the new deal "should not impact financially on the league given that the reduced money from CUB would mean that the league had won back assets which would benefit the clubs." He added the AFL "wanted to retain some control of those arrangements given its determination to continue to responsibly promote alcohol" (THE AGE, 6/21).
