The XFL Dallas Renegades are the only team in the new league to have ads for Bud Light Seltzer on their helmets, but XFL Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer Jordan Schlachter said fans are "going to see more as the season progresses," according to Brian Steinberg of VARIETY. The XFL is "experimenting with new ways" to place advertising, and has "tried other marketing maneuvers as well." St. Louis BattleHawks fans "might have imbibed even more images of the new hard seltzer, which was featured in videos of a BattleHawks locker-room celebration sent out over social media." XFL execs said that the beverages were "placed there deliberately and interaction with them by the players was not mandated." Washington Univ. Dir of Sports Business Program Patrick Rishe said the XFL's willingness to put ads on the backs of helmets is "consistent with the league's receptiveness and openness to be innovative and different." A-B InBev VP/Partnerships, Beer Culture & Community Nick Kelly said, "The XFL being a new league, they are a little more lenient in terms of things they can offer to sponsors, so we saw this as an opportunity to market our products in new and unique ways." Kelly added, "We're going to continue doing that as the rest of the season unfolds and take the learnings with XFL and translate them to more traditional sports" (VARIETY.com, 2/18).
