Heineken near deal for CFP sponsorship

Editor’s note: This story has been updated from the print edition.

The country’s second-largest imported beer company is signing on to be an official sponsor of America’s biggest college football game.

Heineken is close to a deal that will make its Dos Equis brand the official beer of the College Football Playoff starting with the 2016-17 season, according to several sources. Such a deal will mark a significant step as the CFP enters its second year, as Dos Equis will be the event’s first official beer sponsor.

While Heineken and ESPN, which is selling the CFP sponsorships, agreed on terms of the multiyear pact several weeks ago, it still has not been signed. But a formal announcement could come before the end of the month, sources said.

Deal terms are not known, but official sponsorships of the CFP, which Heineken is set to pick up, are said to be in the $14 million to $16 million range per year, sources said, which would be Heineken’s biggest U.S. sponsorship deal. These deals typically come with massive seasonlong college football media buys across all ESPN platforms. Title sponsorship for any of the CFP bowl games typically sell in the $20 million-per-year range.

The move also marks Heineken’s first major sponsorship in American football, a sport where rival import Corona already is a big media buyer, which may be a reason why it wants to use the Dos Equis brand. If the planned Anheuser-Busch InBev-SABMiller merger closes, Heineken will have the second-largest market share in the world and third largest in the U.S. behind Crown Imports, which owns the Corona brand, the top-selling import in the U.S.

Last year, ESPN sold 15 official sponsorships for the CFP. The year before, it had sold 12 for the BCS championship. When the Heineken deal becomes official, it will mark the 16th official sponsorship for the playoff, provided ESPN replaces Vizio, as expected, as title sponsor of the Fiesta Bowl.

The Heineken deal will result in a multiplatform ad presence for the brewer, though it’s hard to know what its exact inventory will be. It’s not a surprise to see a beer brand want to be associated with the CFP, following its impressive debut last year when the Ohio State-Oregon championship game became the most viewed telecast in cable television history with more than 33 million viewers. ESPN pays the CFP $7.3 billion as part of a 12-year agreement for rights to all of the CFP bowls.

Some believe Heineken’s decision may be the start of a trend where smaller beer brands push their way into sports that were once off limits, especially given the news that Anheuser-Busch InBev will buy rival SABMiller.

A-B InBev’s pricey NFL rights are up after next season, and it’s not known how aggressively its competitors will try to get into that space.

“Right now, it’s questionable that any of the big brands [Miller or Bud] could pull the trigger on a big sports deal,” said an agency source who works with one of those breweries. “They are trying to come to terms with the merger, so I don’t see anyone sticking their necks for any large marketing expenditures.”