Budweiser ties up with ICC in AB InBev’s first cricket outing with a 2-year sponsorship contract

Mumbai: AB InBev, maker of Budweiser beer, on Thursday announced a two-year sponsorship agreement with the International Cricket Council covering men’s and women’s tournaments across all formats from 2026.

This is Budweiser’s first association with cricket. AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, has officially sponsored several major sporting events, including the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the 2024 Summer Olympics.

“[We will] “It’s very much about the on-field experience, the scale at which our country is moving beyond the stadium into bars, into people’s homes, into the content community where people interact online,” said Kartikeya Sharma, chairman of AB InBev India.

“This partnership is truly global,” ICC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sanjog Gupta told reporters at the press conference. “Globally important but locally relevant and contextual.”

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In India, AB InBev’s partnership with the ICC will “largely revolve around Budweiser” but in other markets where the ICC hosts tournaments, local AB InBev outposts may opt for other local brands better positioned to be associated with the sport.

The partnership will include: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka, ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 in the United Kingdom, the first ICC Women’s Champions Cup 2027 in Sri Lanka, ICC World Test Championship Final 2027 in England and ICC Men’s ODI Cricket World Cup 2027 in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

From music to sports

In India, Budweiser’s partnerships have focused almost entirely on music; Boiler Room sponsors major events like Lollapalooza India and now Rolling Loud India. This year, its partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA) league in the US was part of a music event called NBA House held in Mumbai in June.

“We started with music because we felt that the beer consumed in bars, pubs and various lounges at that time was reduced to drinking the cheapest draft beer available,” said Sharma. “We realized there was an opportunity for world-class beer if we also offered the necessary experiences. We started with music with the idea of creating the environment where people would come and start paying premium prices for beer.”

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He said AB InBev is more confident in engaging with and adding value to a sport on the scale that cricket brings today.

Beer sales in India this year were severely hit after an unusually long monsoon sent demand peaking in the summer months. Karnataka is an important market Alcohol sales suffered after the state repeatedly increased the excise tax on beer.

Beer sales in Karnataka are down 20% year-on-year, Sharma said. United Breweries, maker of India’s largest beer brand Kingfisher, reported an almost 3% drop in sales and a 65% drop in after-tax profits for the September quarter.

“Partnering with cricket makes sense for a brand like Budweiser because the sports bar culture is still evolving in India,” said Karan Kamdar, research analyst at brokerage Choice Institutional Equities. “For example, you still can’t buy alcohol in stadiums during games.”

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He added that competition in the premium beer space is heating up as legacy brands seek higher-margin growth in major cities but fight for market share with draft and craft beers. These small producers also offer home delivery in some larger cities.

“Data shows that, on average, 80% of alcohol consumption occurs at home, not at work,” Kamdar said. “With this in mind, Budweiser can become more relevant not only to sports but also to home consumption.”

AB InBev’s partnership comes at a sensitive time for the ICC. JioStar wants to exit the Indian media rights agreement to broadcast ICC matches as they are too expensive. Economic Times reported this week. AB InBev is not worried for now.

“Not at all,” said Sharma when asked if the company was worried about the potential of losing a broadcaster for the ICC’s tournaments in India.

“We come to our list of global sports partnerships with great humility. We have a thesis for what we can do with this partnership. We come with tremendous optimism. For us, it makes very intuitive sense. For us, everything is synchronized at this point and anything that’s going on in the media environment may not be too disruptive at this point.”