"The ball has been bouncing Pepsi-Cola Co.'s way lately,"
writes Chris Roush of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. In the "biggest
loss yet to its huge sports marketing program," Coca-Cola will
lose its title as the "official soft drink of the NCAA" to Pepsi.
Pepsi paid an estimated $1.5M a year for the multi-year deal.
Coca-Cola spokesperson Ben Deutsch said the NCAA's price for
renewal was "too high" and that the NCAA had limited Coca-Cola's
"marketing during special events" such as the NCAA basketball
tournament. Deutsch: "We spent more time trying to protect our
sponsorship rather than activating it. We're looking at a lot of
things and making a lot of hard decisions." Coca-Cola had the
NCAA rights for three years, and holds exclusive rights with 600
college stadiums and arenas (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 8/15).
PATRIOT GAMES: Pepsi also signed a five-year marketing deal
with Foxboro Stadium, home of the Patriots, giving them exclusive
pouring, signage and branding rights, including advertising and
promotional activities. This comes less than two weeks after
Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones' $40M deal with Texas Stadium. The
deal between Patriots/Stadium Owner Robert Kraft and PepsiCo also
allows Pepsi to do in-store promos, special stadium events, and
tie-ins with major concerts and pro soccer. Patriots Marketing
Manager Dan Kraft said Pepsi "sweetened the deal by building new
concession stands, upgrading its fountain facilities, agreeing to
pour more products -- including Lipton Iced Tea and Mountain Dew
soda -- and running promotions with the stadium." Dan Kraft said
that since Coca-Cola is the official soft drink of the NFL, the
team has to "abide by NFL rules" and cannot endorse Pepsi
(Patricia Winters, N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/15). Chris Roush reports
the Pats deal is estimated at $750,000 per year (ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 8/15). Patriots Dir of Communications Don Lowery
tried to downplay similarities to the Cowboys deal. Lowery:
"It's not even in the same galaxy as Dallas' deal. ... We weren't
looking to upset NFL Properties" (USA TODAY, 8/15).
EMOTIONS BUBBLING UP: The NFL cola war is the focus of four
different articles in USA TODAY's football section. Browns Owner
Art Modell tells Gordon Forbes that the Jerry Jones/Pepsi deal
"was the ramification of the old guard-new guard division with
the ownership ranks." Modell: "This has been coming on for some
time. And you've got to have a set of rules or not have a set of
rules. And that applies to Al Davis as well as about revenue-
sharing. ... The fact is the ownership personae has changed
enormously in our league. The culture has changed" (USA TODAY,
8/15). In New York, Richard Sandomir writes of Jones' desire to
have teams market and license their own logos and trademarks, and
break off that form of revenue sharing (N.Y. TIMES, 8/15).
