South Africa: SAB confirmed the stadiums would be without its brands during 2010 World Cup

South African Breweries has no regrets about refusing to fork out more than R600-million for the right to sell beer in stadiums during the 2010 World Cup, Independent Online posted on February 24.

The world's biggest brewery, Anheuser-Busch - the producer of Budweiser - has paid the World Cup committee about $100-million (R610-million) for the exclusive rights to sell beer to the thousands of fans who will attend the event.

South African Breweries (SAB) - the South African division of the world's second-biggest brewer, SABMiller - confirmed the stadiums would be without its brands. "We are not frustrated, though," said SABMiller spokesperson Michael Farr. "We did not even consider the sponsorship.

"It would have made sense to pay $100-million only if we produced beers that were widely available to hundreds of millions of international television viewers. "Castle and Black Label do not qualify under that condition and for Amstel we have the rights only in South Africa."

Danny Jordaan, chief executive of the local organising committee, confirmed that the deal Anheuser-Busch struck with Fifa was exclusive. "There will be only one sponsor ... that rules out other beer sponsors."

On being restricted to exploring local opportunities, Farr said: "It is too bad, but no drama. We do not expect to lose a lot of money over it.

"You have to look at it this way - if you travel to India you are not going to try to find a Castle, you want to taste the local beer. "We expect the same reaction from the thousands of soccer fans who will come to South Africa. "Budweiser may be the sponsor in the stadiums - outside they will be looking for the local beers we happen to produce."