MillerCoors To Sponsor All-You-Can-Drink Toyota Park Party Deck
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MillerCoors Replacing A-B As Toyota
Park Party Deck Sponsor |
MillerCoors beginning Saturday will be the new "domestic beer sponsor" at MLS Chicago Fire's Toyota Park, replacing A-B, and the key to Miller's two-year sponsorship is "an all-you-can-eat-and-drink pavilion at the park," according to Podmolik & Hughlett of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. At the Miller Lite Party Deck, which will be "restricted to fans who buy multi-game or season ticket packages to that area of the park," patrons can "drink all the Miller Lite they want and endlessly nosh on stadium fare without extra change ... for 90 minutes before games and the first 20 minutes of games." Fire President Dave Greeley "worked a similar partnership with Miller for Soldier Field" during his time as Bears CMO, but the Miller Lite Party Deck at Toyota Park is "2 1/2 times larger and will hold nearly 700 people." Greeley: "This (party deck) would not be a seating area for the suburban family wanting to come out and enjoy an evening of soccer. This is much more rock-and-roll soccer, consistent with what a young adult male consumer over the age of 21 would want. This is like a Wrigley Field rooftop but inside the stadium." SportsBusiness Daily Editor-at-Large Terry Lefton said the deck is "probably a good way to get people out of the city into the suburbs and to [an MLS] game they might not think of going to, but I would still worry about their legal exposure on this." IEG Sponsorship Report Senior Editor William Chipps added it "seems like there is an inherent amount of risk in the deal." Chipps said that companies like MillerCoors "often try to go 'overboard on touting responsible drinking. This seems to go against that message.'" MillerCoors Dir of Media Relations Julian Green said that the company is "supplying the beer but it is the stadium's charge to encourage responsible beer consumption." Podmolik & Hughlett note the deal is with Toyota Park and not the Fire because A-B is the official beer sponsor of MLS. Miller Lite signage will "dominate the party deck and be featured in other areas of the park and on stadium maps and other promotional materials." But an MLS spokesperson said that Miller Lite signage will not be placed "within 15 seating rows of the field because of the chance that television cameras might catch it" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 4/29).
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