World Cup gives beer sales a summer kick in U.S. host cities
Beer sales jumped in U.S. World Cup host cities, even as brewers face a longer slide in drinking across major markets.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
The World Cup has put a serious dent in America’s beer taps, with U.S. host cities seeing a 14% rise in beer sales at bars, restaurants, stadiums and other venues during the tournament’s first four weeks compared with the same stretch last year, according to the Beer Institute.
The lift was not limited to the match cities. Nationally, beer sales were up 4% over that period, the trade group said, as fans packed stadiums, pubs and watch parties across the country.
In Philadelphia, supporters bought 290,000 stadium beers across six World Cup matches, FIFA organizers said. In Boston, the rush got so intense that the Sam Adams Boston Taproom needed two emergency beer deliveries on the first day Scotland fans were in town, according to Jim Koch, founder and CEO of Boston Beer Co.
Koch said the taproom was pouring a Sam Adams Boston Lager every 12 seconds at one point. He also said the visiting fans were talking with each other rather than staring at phones, which he described as exactly the kind of social moment beer is meant to support.
A short-term party for a pressured industry
The World Cup surge comes while beer faces a tougher long-term picture. U.S. beer consumption has declined for a decade, according to the Brewers Association, the craft brewing trade group. Statistics Canada has reported a similar drop in Canada, and the Brewers of Europe trade association has described the same pattern in the European Union.
Health concerns are part of the shift. Gallup polling last year found that 53% of Americans said having one or two drinks a day was bad for a person’s health, the first time a majority in the poll had taken that view.
The North American tournament has also offered a sharp contrast with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where the government barred alcoholic beer sales at match venues.
Brewers have treated this year’s World Cup as a prime sales moment. AB InBev, which makes Budweiser and Michelob Ultra and is the tournament’s official beer sponsor, provided marketing support to bars and hosted 200,000 watch parties in 40 countries.
Molson Coors said it planned to spend 60% more on marketing in June and July than it did last year. The company also introduced a limited-edition soccer ball designed to hold 12 cans of Miller Lite.
The boost has not erased worries about what happens when fan bases go home. Shares of AB InBev and Constellation Brands, which owns the U.S. rights to Mexican beer brands including Corona and Modelo, fell after Mexico and Brazil were knocked out of the tournament.
More sports tie-ins are coming. In May, the NCAA reversed its long-running ban on alcohol advertising during March Madness, allowing beer, wine, spirits and hard seltzer makers to sponsor the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments starting next season.
The World Cup is scheduled to finish July 19 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with Spain facing Argentina in the final. England and France are set to meet in the third-place match one day earlier in Miami Gardens, Florida.
This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.