Major NBA Team Sponsor MillerCoors to Withhold Payments During Lockout


Without NBA action around to promote its products, MillerCoors doesn’t see it fit to keep making sponsorship payments to NBA teams until they can figure out a way to end the labor dispute. From the Journal Sentinel: “It didn’t take long for at least one major business to react to the news that the NBA players had rejected the league’s contract offer. MillerCoors, which spends heavily on sports advertising and has sponsorship deals with many NBA teams, including the Milwaukee Bucks, announced Monday it was withholding all payments to its NBA partners until a resolution to the lockout is found. Peter Marino, a MillerCoors spokesman, said the decision was made after players rejected the NBA’s latest offer. He said the payments will be made in full upon resolution of the bitter dispute. MillerCoors has been a major sponsor of the Bucks for years. While it is not known what the deal is worth, SportsBusiness Journal reported that three-quarters of MillerCoors’ total TV advertising spending last year – about $214 million – was dedicated to sports.”