Global spirits conglomerate Pernod Ricard, which reported $12 billion in sales for fiscal 2024, will sign a multiyear sponsorship with Major League Soccer.
The partnership will be for Pernod Ricard’s Jameson brand of Irish whiskey. The deal with the MLS will be Pernod Ricard’s biggest sports sponsorship in North America across any of its brands.
“We believe in the dynamism of this marketplace,” said Conor McQuaid, Pernod Ricard USA chair and CEO, in an exclusive interview with Fortune. “The time is right to associate the brand with this burgeoning popular sport.”
As part of the agreement, Jameson will be included in national broadcasts and have a significant brand presence at the annual MLS All-Star Game in July. The brand also signed individual sponsorship agreements with six MLS clubs: Chicago Fire FC, Houston Dynamo FC, Los Angeles Galaxy, New York City FC, Orlando City SC, and San Diego FC.
“There are no limits on where MLS can go, and we value brands who share that same belief and vision,” MLS chief revenue officer and executive vice president Carter Ladd told Fortune.
The rising popularity of professional soccer
The MLS has seen record interest over the past several seasons. In October, the league reported it had broken the previous season’s regular-season attendance record. More than 11 million fans attended the 2024 MLS season, which was a 5% increase from the year before, according to the league’s data. MLS’s growing popularity also led to all-time highs in sponsorship revenue for the season. Sponsorship revenue rose 13% in 2024, per MLS data.
As soccer’s popularity in the U.S. has grown, sales of spirits have stagnated. Liquor sales in the U.S. had grown steadily for about 20 years, then skyrocketed during the pandemic before declining in 2023. Through July, overall alcohol sales in the U.S. dropped 2.8%, according to a report from beverage industry market research firm IWSR.
Jameson’s trajectory in the U.S. has broadly mirrored that of the liquor market as a whole. McQuaid said the brand had been on “a bit of a tear in the last 20 years in the U.S.” And while Pernod Ricard doesn’t always break out sales figures for individual brands, its overall U.S. business was down 10% in the third quarter, according to an October earnings call.
McQuaid said MLS’s diverse audience was a major selling point for Pernod Ricard when negotiating the deal. On average, MLS fans are five-to-10 years younger than those of traditional sports leagues, Ladd said. They are also far more likely to be Hispanic, the country’s fastest-growing demographic.
“Soccer is the sport for the new North America, and the audience of MLS is young, diverse, and digitally native,” Ladd said.
The league’s success has taken off since the arrival of Argentinian football legend Lionel Messi in July 2023. While Jameson doesn’t have a commercial relationship with Messi, McQuaid said he is a “huge addition to the league” because of his “star quality.”
“It’s great to have him here,” McQuaid said. “It’s a further data point that the opportunity for soccer in the U.S. knows no bounds.”
Much of MLS’s recent surge in popularity is also due to the first-of-its-kind media rights deal it signed with Apple in 2022. Apple will pay MLS $2.5 billion over 10 years for global distribution rights. MLS did not sell international broadcast rights in piecemeal fashion as most sports leagues do, instead opting to keep all of its content with Apple.
“We are in the midst of a transformational period that has seen the sport’s greatest player choose Major League Soccer and the most innovative company in the world–Apple–provide us with a global platform,” Ladd said, referencing Messi.
Over the course of the MLS-Pernod Ricard partnership, the U.S. will host the 2026 men’s World Cup. While separate from the MLS, the World Cup will still bring massive media attention to U.S. soccer, which will have a “halo effect” for Jameson, McQuaid said.
“The next few years will be like rocket fuel for our sport as North America will be at the epicenter of the beautiful game,” Ladd said.
