Anheuser-Busch InBev is out as the domestic beer sponsor at the Chicago Fire’s Toyota Park and MillerCoors is in, with the key to its two-year sponsorship being an all-you-can-eat-and-drink pavilion at the park, beginning Saturday.
The Miller Lite Party Deck at the stadium’s south side will be restricted to fans who buy multi-game or season ticket packages to that area of the park. Prices will range from $215 for a five-game package to $663 for a 17-game package. That’s more than some other packages but the deck is packed with perks.
For 90 minutes before games and the first 20 minutes of games, patrons can drink all the Miller Lite they want and endlessly nosh on stadium fare without extra charge.
The man behind the marketing is Dave Greeley, who was appointed Chicago Fire president in August. While chief marketing officer of the Chicago Bears, he worked a similar partnership with Miller for Soldier Field. The Toyota Park party deck though, is 2 1/2 times larger and will hold nearly 700 people. Pre-game entertainment will include radio remote broadcasts, disc jockeys and the Miller Lite Girls.
Last year, the Fire drew an average of 17,000 fans to the 20,000-seat stadium in south suburban Bridgeview. Its fan base is a mix of Hispanics, young suburban families and young adult males ages 21 to 34.
“This [party deck] would not be a seating area for the suburban family wanting to come out and enjoy an evening of soccer,” Greeley said. “This is much more rock-and-roll soccer, consistent with what a young adult male consumer over the age of 21 would want. This is like a Wrigley Field rooftop but inside the stadium.”
Marketing experts say Toyota Park’s approach is novel, if not a little risky.
“I have heard of plenty of all-you-can-eat but I have not heard of an all-you-can-drink,” said Terry Lefton, an editor-at-large at Sports Business Daily. “It’s probably a good way to get people out of the city into the suburbs and to a Major League Soccer game they might not think of going to, but I would still worry about their legal exposure on this.”
Echoed William Chipps, senior editor of the IEG Sponsorship Report, which tracks corporate sponsorships: “It seems like there is an inherent amount of risk in the deal.” Companies like MillerCoors often try to go “overboard on touting responsible drinking. This seems to go against that message.”
MillerCoors spokesman Julian Green said the brewer is supplying the beer but it is the stadium’s charge to encourage responsible beer consumption.
“Food service providers who are licensed and on the front line are responsible for ensuring that the customers they are serving are of legal age and are responsible for monitoring the consumption of alcohol to ensure that customers are not overserved,” he said.
Toyota Park concessions can refuse beverage services if patrons seem intoxicated, added Becky Carroll, vice president of communications for the Chicago Fire, which manages Toyota Park. “This is tailored very similarly to suites or VIP seating that is available at Toyota Park or other major league stadiums throughout the Chicago area that provide all-inclusive food and beverages along with tickets,” she said.
More Top Picks Best Wedge Body Pillows For Side Sleepers
The sponsorship deal is with Toyota Park and not with the Chicago Fire because Anheuser-Busch is the official beer sponsor of Major League Soccer. That means Miller Lite signage will dominate the party deck and be featured in other areas of the park and on stadium maps and other promotional materials. It will not, however, be placed within 15 seating rows of the field because of the chance that television cameras might catch it, an MLS spokesman said.
Terms were not disclosed.
Toyota Park isn’t the first soccer stadium to negotiate a beer sponsorship. Carlsberg, Tecate and Coors sponsor sections of parks in Toronto and outside Denver and Dallas, respectively. The party deck plays into the increasing trend among marketers to “own” a section of a stadium where they can get the biggest bang for their marketing dollars, Chipps said.
———-