Will Stadium Beer Boost Your Sales Long-Term?

Touchdown or Hail Mary: Are Craft Beer Placements in NFL Stadiums Worth It?

Originally published on our craft beer newsletter Alcohol Content.

Written by: Grace Lee-Weitz

Photography courtesy of Sun King Brewery

As a Minnesotan, I’m hesitant to talk to anyone about the Viking’s surprisingly good 5-0 start in the NFL this year. What’s not surprising? A recent study released by FinanceBuzz reported an increase in beer prices at NFL stadiums over the last ten years. According to the report, at least four teams have doubled their beer prices between 2013 and 2023, often raising prices by over 100 percent.

For example, in 2013, the Carolina Panthers had the lowest-priced beer in the country—$4.36. Today, you’ll shovel out $10.56 for that 16oz pour, a 142 percent increase.

How does this translate to craft breweries?

Sports stadiums seem like no-brainer platforms to sell beer. But arenas have notoriously hard barriers for independent producers to crack. Is the metaphorical Gatorade worth the squeeze, especially at today’s prices?

The answer for Pittsburgh Brewing President Todd Zwicker is yes, but it depends.
“Being in stadiums means you’re one of the big boys,” says Zwicker. “I know I want a beer when I go to a game. I would probably pay $100 a can because I really want to drink beer.”

For a brewery emblematic of a city crazed about sports, Zwicker feels it needs to be in stadiums to align with the brand.

“We’re very sports heavy,” he says, noting fans can find Pittsburgh Brewing beer at Pirates, Penguins, Steelers, University of Pittsburgh, and University of West Virginia games.

He cautions, though, that getting placements isn’t always the answer.

“Stadiums are not for everybody; that’s the bottom line,” says Zwicker, who has seen smaller craft breweries spend unreasonable amounts of money to get beyond the gate. “You really have to think long and hard: If you’re a smaller brewery, does it make sense?”

He says that even if you pay to play, “You might not get any exposure, and then it becomes a wasted dollar,” especially because if you don’t package in a 24-oz or 19.2-oz can, you’re already flagged.

“You need to have some scale and brand recognition to legitimately have a shot to sell product in a stadium,” says Zwicker.

He recommends leading with your best horse if you have those three things—the right package, scale, and exposure. Getting stadium placements, much like a spot on the fifty-three-man roster, is all about performance. If people buy your beer, you’ll get more and better visibility. You want to put your best-selling beer forward.

For instance, Pittsburgh Brewing offers its flagship, IC Light, which has become the number-one beer seller in PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium, beating out Bud Light, Coors Light, and Miller Lite.

“Now, is it worth the cost we’re paying?” he says without disclosing their sponsorship dollars. “We could pay less and probably still bet the same results, but our beer resonates.”

Zwicker says it’s hard to measure the exact ROI when it comes down to dollars, but if you’re talking sense, “We want to be relevant in the sports scene in Pittsburgh, and we are in a very big way.”

But you don’t always need to throw a Hail Mary. Craft breweries have other options.

Consider starting at a smaller minor league baseball stadium or pro soccer team.

“It might be a sport nobody pays attention to, but a little bit of money might go a long way with that franchise,” says Zwicker. “You become important to them and can be more creative … to get more visibility.”

For example, in 2009, Sun King in Indianapolis, Indiana, started at Victory Field, home to a local AAA baseball team.

“I knew in the summertime that beer and baseball go hand in glove,” says Sun King VP of Brewery Operations and Co-Founder Dave Colt, who reached out to the stadium’s board of directors and made his pitch. “I told them at the beginning that we were long on beer and short on cash, but we could get creative and get our foot in the door without upsetting any other sponsors they had in the space.”

Sun King got three beers into the stadium—Sunlight Cream Ale, Osiris Pale Ale, and Wee Mack Scottish-Style Ale. By the fourth inning of the first game, Sunlight had sold out, followed quickly by the other two.

Sun King was off to the races. Next was a placement in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where the Indiana Pacers play.

“We figured the NBA was not quite as intense of a sponsorship ask as the NFL,” shares Colt, who reached out to the Pacers through the brewery’s distribution partner, Monarch Distributing. “It wasn’t as low stakes as a [AAA] baseball team, but we had a proof of concept.”

While Colt says the benefits of Sun King’s beer in stadiums have been hard to quantify, he did note an immediate response from the community. He calls it a “force multiplier,” where people learn about them at events before coming to the taprooms. “We started to see sales increase,” he says. “It’s some of that word of mouth.”

Perhaps nothing speaks more volumes about Sun King’s success than this anecdote.

In 2013, Lucas Oil Stadium, home to the Indianapolis Colts, came to Sun King. During a post-season survey, one question from fans kept coming up again and again: “Why aren’t you selling Sun King here at the stadium?” says Colt. “We established our brand before we got there, and that’s why we were able to get in.”

He adds, “Are our placements as incredible as if we had multi-one-hundred-thousand-plus deals? No, but we are available.”

With the perfect crawl, walk, run story at Sun King, Colt has one piece of advice. “Do what you can afford, and don’t bite off more than you can chew,” he says.

If that means starting at a minor AAA baseball stadium, go for it. “Look for those opportunities where people are hyper-sensitive to local … [because] those are your apostles, the one thousand people looking who will be that force multiplier to catapult you.”

Zwicker agrees, “[Major stadiums] can be black holes in which you can just drop a lot of money. Again, I think it looks [like] fun, and it looks like it’s the best way to build brands, but the best way to build brands is at the street level.”

After all, even teams that start 5-0 can miss the playoffs.