From professional soccer to college basketball and from the U.S. to the U.K., beer brands’ sports sponsorships deliver big wins.
By: Kate Bernot

Sports and beer have long shared a natural synergy, with partnerships between beverage brands and athletic organizations creating moments of camaraderie and celebration for fans. These collaborations go beyond mere sponsorships – they’re about aligning with the passion, culture, and traditions that define sports fandom. From the Premier League to the Super Bowl, brands like Athletic Brewing, Guinness, Truly, Heineken, and Coors Light are finding innovative ways to deepen their ties with sports fans, enhancing both the fan experience and their own brand visibility. Whether through co-branded products, stadium promotions, or grassroots initiatives, these partnerships illustrate how beer brands are embedding themselves into the cultural heartbeat of sports, forging connections that resonate across generations and geographies.
Given the name of the brand, Athletic Brewing’s partnerships with sports teams are baked into its DNA. Indeed, since the company’s founding in 2017, it has put athletic and active lifestyles at the center of its marketing and sponsorship. In 2024, though, that entered a new phase when Athletic became the first non-alcoholic beer sponsor of the Arsenal F.C. Premier League team. It was a first for the soccer club, and a first for Athletic.
“This was by far the biggest team that we’ve partnered with,” says Andrew Katz, Athletic’s Chief Marketing Officer. “It’s one of the highest-profile things we’ve ever done. As we think about scaling the brand, we think about not only participatory sports, which are really important, but now we’re also surprising and delighting spectators as well.”
The sponsorship, which names Athletic the official non-alcoholic beer of Arsenal F.C. and Arsenal W.F.C., its women’s team, is designed primarily to enhance Athletic’s brand recognition and rate of sale in the U.K. Fans there can taste Athletic inside Emirates Stadium – including through an upcoming “free beer day” promotion during a match – and at stores, where Athletic debuted co-branded four-packs of cans emblazoned in Arsenal red. The partnership also has ripple effects to U.S. consumers, too, thanks to the global reach of Premier League soccer: Arsenal’s website lists 73 local fan clubs based in the U.S., from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
It Starts at Home
Beer and sports share a deep connection, often rooted in local partnerships that unite fans and brands over shared passions.
“By partnering with local teams, we connect with fans and enhance their game-day experiences,” says Stephen Markley, Senior Marketing Director at Yuengling, the Official Lager of the Philadelphia Phillies.
These sponsorships often begin inside stadiums, like Heineken’s branded deck at Subaru Park for Philadelphia Union games, but extend beyond, with activations, retail promotions, and watch parties amplifying the connection.
“We create spaces where fans can engage with our brand and their community,” adds Kelly Rinaudot, Regional Marketing Manager for Heineken USA, emphasizing collaboration with markets and distributors to sustain energy beyond the game.
These efforts tap into fans’ emotional ties to their teams. As Tom Henehan of Molson Coors notes, “Your Monday is shaped by how your team performs on Sunday That power is unmatched.”
By aligning with fans’ passions, beer brands create lasting impressions, proving that home team pride pairs perfectly with a cold brew.

Tapping into this kind of rabid fandom is what beer and sports partnerships are built on. No matter the brand, the goal is to solidify the link between the good times a fan has with a team and their enjoyment of a particular beer. Sometimes that takes place within a stadium’s four walls; other times, it’s about a beer brand being part of a fan’s sports bar experience, or their traditions around watching the game at home. Either way, it’s a natural fit, because sporting events are already culturally ingrained as beer-drinking moments.
“We know during sports occasions, the consumer is looking for beer, whether it be non-alcoholic or alcoholic,” says Kelly Rinaudot, Regional Marketing Manager for Heineken USA, a sponsor of the Philadelphia Union soccer team. “As a fan, when I go to a game and I drink Heineken, I’m going to connect that good experience with the brand. And so, what we really strive to do through our sports partnerships, is create that memorable, legendary moment that a sports fan has at a match.”

Making a beverage part of fans’ and athletes’ passion for a sport is also at the center of Truly’s sponsorship of the US Soccer Federation (USSF); since 2022, the brand has been the official hard seltzer of both men’s and women’s U.S. soccer. It gave Truly a place of prominence during the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and will do the same at the men’s FIFA World Cup in 2026.
The alignment makes sense, says Matt Withington, Senior Director of Marketing for Truly, because the sport of soccer has gone from a niche interest in the U.S. to solidly in the mainstream within just a decade. Research from business intelligence company Morning Consult shows soccer fans are younger and more diverse than general sports fans in the United States.
“Soccer is continuing to grow among the next generation of sports fans. And for us, Truly is really the beverage of the next generation of drinkers,” says Withington. “That alignment of values just made for a really natural partnership. We’re in this for the long haul.”
It’s already shown signs of success. Withington says single cans of Truly that featured the USSF crest sold in small-format stores boosted purchase interest and contributed more than 5% in dollar sales growth in 2024. But Truly’s aim is not just to drive sales and brand equity but to enhance the fan experience. Last year, it debuted limited-edition “orange slice” cans to celebrate the U.S. Women’s National Team and remind drinkers of the nostalgia they have for their own youth soccer days. The brand has also been a supporter of SheBelieves, a U.S. Soccer initiative to encourage young women and girls to reach their dreams, athletic or otherwise.
“We’ve focused on positively adding to fan culture in ways that that audience has found meaningful,” Withington says. “We’re celebrating the next generation of athletes various sports franchises have worked strategically over the years to make sure sponsorships benefit all parties. In 2025, for the second year in a row, Coors Light will be an official beer of ESPN’s tournament bracket. That means the beer brand will be featured prominently on brackets and in on and off-premise point-of-sale materials leading up to and during the tournament. (Blue Moon will not be an official sponsor of the tournament, but will advertise heavily throughout.) Henehan says that Coors Light’s sponsorship of ESPN’s bracket is an example of how to integrate a beer brand with beloved sports traditions, like filling out – and stressing over – March Madness brackets.


“When you think about working with a sports partner, it’s about establishing goals in which you’re both aligned – both the brand and the team. You’re not just buying their IP rights, you’re buying into their culture,” Henehan says.
“Cultural legacy and unflappable fan loyalty is what separates sports teams from other types of partnerships like music festivals,” he says. Sports fandom is passed down through families, friends, and cities through generations, transcending losing seasons, player trades, and ownership changes. Your favorite sports team is in your blood, and being a brand sponsor means being a caretaker for fans’ passion.
“Teams are not just teams, they’re cultures unto themselves. They’re a language unto themselves. It’s a vibe unto itself,” Henehan says. “And it’s consistent. Once you’re an Eagles fan, you’re always an Eagles fan. Once you’re an Orioles fan, you’re always an Orioles fan. Once you’re a Red Sox fan, you’re part of a family. We say it’s about getting involved in the culture of a team, not just being an add-on.”
About the Author: You may know her as the director of the North American Guild of Beer Writers, but Kate Bernot wears many hats. The work of this celebrated journalist and BJCP Certified Beer Judge routinely appears in The New York Times, Washington Post and the online publication Good Beer Hunting – to name a few. Ms. Bernot resides in Missoula, Montana where she enjoys the great outdoors and a good pint of beer made by the area’s skilled local brewers.