Belgium brewer InBev has agreed to buy Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion. How much will this impact the business of sports, particularly sports with gun themes?
Anheuser-Busch currently sponsors the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, Quail Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl Foundation, Quality Deer Management Association, American Trapshooting Association Grand American, National Bird Dog Trials and World Shooting Complex (Budweiser).
Anheuser-Busch spent $218,210,715 on advertising during sporting events in 2007. That made up 83.8 percent of their total TV ad spending, according to Nielsen Media Research and the SportsBusiness Journal.
That $218 million topped the next biggest sports spender, Chevrolet, by $45 million.
We also know that consolidation most often leads to cost cutting, and combine that with the fact that InBev apparently has the reputation of being slashers, and the gun industry could be feeling this one.
