Minor League Baseball has signed a multiyear sponsorship agreement with Bush’s beans, extending a run of dealmaking this year for the affiliated minors that has opened up several previously untapped categories.
The deal with the Bush Bros. & Co.-owned brand, beginning in 2017, adds to ones MiLB has made since January with John Deere, Uncle Ray’s Potato Chips, residential solar company Sunrun, and the Allstate-owned Esurance. Bush’s will become the official beans partner of MiLB, a preferred partner for several as-yet-undisclosed individual clubs, feature the MiLB logo on its products, and support several MiLB health, wellness and education outreach efforts. In particular, the brand will aid a community health program in which top physical education teachers are recognized at MiLB ballparks.
The Tennessee-based Bush’s also will be incorporated into the concessions at numerous MiLB ballparks, which have become a key setting for experimentation and increasingly daring food offerings in sports hospitality. Bush’s will step up activation in minor league ballparks during National Baked Bean Month each July.
Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal is slated to be announced formally this week at baseball’s annual Winter Meetings, held this year at National Harbor, Md.
“Our consumer is their consumer,” said David Wright, MiLB chief marketing and commercial officer, of Bush’s. “There’s a ton of overlap, and this one just made a lot of sense. It also shows the benefits of the targeted approach we’ve taken in this space in lining up our audience closely with those of our partners.”
MiLB was assisted in the deal by Chicago-based Property Consulting Group, which the organization retained in 2013 before Wright’s arrival to provide sponsorship, marketing and strategic consulting.
Bush’s historically has not been a major marketer in stick-and-ball sports. But it has been active in racing, where it has had a long-term relationship with NASCAR’s JTG Daugherty Racing team and earlier this year renewed its partnership with Bristol Motor Speedway. It handled the MiLB deal in-house.
“We really appreciate how MiLB engages with families and the communities where there are stadiums and teams,” Bush’s said in a statement. “Both brands have been trusted brands for a long time, and this partnership is a perfect fit.”
