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Marketing and Sponsorship

With deal, Constellation Brands finds its beach in Brooklyn

Barclays Center will welcome bars branded by Corona, Modelo Especial and Ballast Point beers.
Photo by: BROOKLYN SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT (3)
Constellation Brands, parent for the Corona Extra, Modelo Especial and Ballast Point beer brands, has agreed to its first major arena sponsorship in North America, signing on as a top-tier sponsor with Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets.

Constellation replaces Anheuser-Busch as the pre-eminent beer sponsor at Barclays. A-B had broad category rights since the arena opened in 2012.

Under the deal, the arena will open three branded bars for Constellation before the end of 2016.

The Corona Extra Beach House Bar, slated for the arena’s main concourse, replaces an A-B-branded bar and will be the only place in New York City where Corona, long America’s top-selling imported beer, will be available on draft. Ballast Point also will have a branded bar on the main concourse. Casa Modelo, a branded Modelo Especial bar, which the brewer described as a “fusion of
Brooklyn and Mexican imagery and decor,” will be on the upper concourse.

The deal also includes sponsorship rights to the Nets but not with their Barclays co-tenant, the New York Islanders.

Designations granted with the deal label Corona Extra as the official import beer sponsor of Barclays Center, Modelo Especial as the official import beer sponsor of the Nets, and Ballast Point as an official craft beer sponsor of Barclays Center. In-arena and outdoor signage, in-arena brand activations and digital ad inventory also are included with the sponsorship.

Corona Extra and Modelo Especial receive exclusive import beer marketing rights under the deal. Terms were not disclosed, but one source said that the deal was larger than the prior A-B deal and that a domestic beer sponsorship is in the offing.

For Constellation, it’s the company’s second large sports deal in three months, having signed with the Los Angeles Rams in August.

“With 26 consecutive quarters of growth, we have more resources to spend against venue sponsorships, so we looked at what was available in L.A. and New York, which are two of our most important markets,” said Jim Sabia, chief marketing officer for Constellation Brands’ beer division. “We don’t do many of these deals, so when we do them, we make sure we can activate at retail and that it matches the cultural diversity of our consumers.”

Added Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment CEO Brett Yormark, “They’re going to activate the Nets and the Barclays Center throughout the marketplace, so aside from a nice financial commitment, that’s what really got us excited about this deal.”

> CLOSING TIME: Industry sources tell us Diageo has quietly jettisoned its leaguewide NBA sponsorship rights, after three seasons as a corporate patron of the league. Activation of league intellectual property by Diageo largely centered on the Crown Royal Canadian whisky and Ciroc vodka brands. Diageo supported with a number of NBA team deals, some of which will continue.

Sources said the distiller found the league deal cumbersome to activate.

Bacardi was the previous NBA sponsor in the spirits category.
 
Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.

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