MLB has finalized a four-year deal with MasterCard
which "fills a long-vacant category" after pursuing Visa for
years, according to Terry Lefton of BRANDWEEK. In addition,
MLB has signed a one-year deal with Hershey and "re-inked
longtime incumbents" Anheuser-Busch and Gatorade to new
deals that "commit them to providing substantial MLB-themed
advertising." While declining to reveal specific details,
MLB sources told Lefton that sponsorship deals signed this
year "call for aggregate annual spending levels" of $73.5M
on MLB in each of the next four years, including media and
promotion. While MasterCard "won't deliver baseball-themed
ads until next year," Hershey will leverage its new deal
"almost immediately," handing out 50,000 Twizzler/MLB
towels, along with 2.5-ounce candy samples, to fans entering
Jacobs Field for Game Three of the World Series. Next
season, Hershey will "concentrate" its MLB promotional
support behind its Twizzler licorice and will execute three
MLB promos for that brand centered around the All-Star Game,
the LCS and the World Series (BRANDWEEK, 10/20 issue).
BANNING BUBBLY? CNBC's Martha MacCallum examined the
controversy over MLB's licensing of World Series champagne
bottles to Chicago-based Big League Bottling (BLB). An MLB
spokesperson told CNBC the league "will now pull" the MLB-
licensed champagne from the World Series teams' clubhouses;
it will not distribute the collectible bottles at the
Series; and that "the champagne that is being sold for
$79.95 through an 800 number was never meant for mass
marketing." But BLB says it "will still market the
champagne through the toll-free number and other direct
marketing" ("Market Wrap," CNBC, 10/17).
MURPHY OUT: MLB announced Friday that MLBE President
Greg Murphy resigned. See (#9) for more.
