Why the World Cup is a ‘make or break’ moment for alcohol
By Jordan Valinsky, CNN
New York (CNN) — Forget ticket sales and geopolitical tensions. The World Cup might face another hurdle: A years-long decline in drinking.
A massive global sporting event should be a celebration for the alcohol industry, as people cram into bars or throw watch parties at home. Anheuser-Busch InBev, Heineken, Molson Coors as well as liquor giant Diageo are all pouring big money into the soccer spectacle.
But the tournament is mostly taking place in the United States, where drinking is plummeting.
“The alcohol business in the United States is struggling more than in virtually any other part of the world,” said Bourcard Nesin, a beverage analyst for Rabobank. “We’re seeing dramatic declines in consumption that aren’t taking place elsewhere.”
But with 104 matches stretching over nearly six weeks and three countries with major names like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the World Cup should provide at least temporary relief for the industry.
“The World Cup will increase consumption of beer, wine and spirits without question,” Nesin told CNN. “It’s a big boost for them at a time when they need it in a market where they need it most.”
“The question is how much of a boost is enough?” he added.
A first for liquor
For Diageo (DEO), the World Cup couldn’t come at a better time.
Revenue for North America, its biggest market, dropped 9% in its most recent quarter. More alarmingly, US spirit sales fell 15%, hampered by lower demand for its tequilas, like Casamigos.
“North America remains our biggest challenge,” CEO Dave Lewis said last month in prepared earnings remarks.
A pioneering deal with FIFA could help: Diageo was named the World Cup’s first-ever spirits sponsor, meaning only its brands will be served at stadiums and sanctioned fan festivals. It’s also the first time liquor will be sold at the tournament. (Financial terms weren’t disclosed.)
Tequila and whiskey are “huge with soccer consumers,” according to Rick Pineda, Diageo’s vice president of global sports partnerships. The company will focus its marketing in the US on Buchanan’s Scotch Whisky, Don Julio 1942 and Casamigos tequila.
“This is a huge opportunity for us to lead in the spirits category and to bring all of our customers, distributors, retail partners that have never had the ability to leverage a spirits partnership with the World Cup,” he told CNN.
Plus, sporting events garner a “communal feeling” that “absolutely help recruit (new customers) in a big way,” he said.
Lewis, however, sounded a bit more cauitious on the earnings call.
He told analysts a North America-based World Cup is “going to be a bit more of a voyage of discovery” in seeing how consumers respond to the massive deal.
Beer bump?
Big Beer is also pumping millions into sponsorships and promotions in hopes of improving sales.
The industry has been under pressure for years with volumes further declining in 2025 by 6%, according to trade group IWSR. Consumers are cutting back discretionary spending, which is affecting alcohol sales, as well as shifting to spirits or premade options.
But people more commonly associate sports with beer, Nesin said, so the World Cup will be a bigger boost to their business than liquor.
“This is a Super Bowl that lasts a month,” he said.
Anheuser-Busch, the World Cup’s official beer sponsor, has held that deal for more than 40 years. But this year, instead of highlighting its Budweiser brand, Michelob Ultra will adorn an MVP trophy given to a player after every match. The low carb beer is a bright spot among its beers, recently becoming the top-selling brand.
The company is also spending on promotional activity at bars “because the bars will be the places where people will get together to watch the games,” CEO Michel Doukeris said on last month’s earnings call.
Heineken isn’t a World Cup sponsor, but it is also increasing its marketing spend by nearly 200% at bars in hopes of reviving sales. They will be given promotional materials, like pennants and signs, and the brand will sell limited-edition soccer-themed packaging at retail outlets.
Meanwhile, Molson Coors is increasing its spending by 60% this summer on ads focused on soccer, including a new ad that elongates its name to sound similar to how Spanish-speaking announcer Andrés Cantor screams “goooool.”
The brewer is also using the platform to promote its new non-alcoholic Coors 0.0% beer, tapping into one of the alcohol industry’s fastest-growing categories. Volumes of alcohol-free beer rose by 15% last year, according to IWSR.
Past World Cup years have boosted global volume of beer sold by about a quarter of a percent, with sales in the tournament’s months jumping as much as tenfold.
But analysts caution that even with all the attention gained during the soccer spectacle, it’s unlikely to fully reverse a broader slowdown affecting the alcohol industry.
“The World Cup could lead to transitory bump in demand, but will do little to change long-term trends,” said BNP Paribas Equity Research senior analyst Kevin Grundy in a recent note.
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