DeWitt on Busch Stadium: Don’t “Expect Any Change”
Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said the takeover of Anheuser-Busch by Belgium-based InBev is unlikely to impact the signature name of the club’s downtown ballpark and that he’s eager to discuss the team’s relationship with the new player in the St. Louis market, Post-Dispatch baseball writer Joe Strauss reports after talking with DeWitt today.
“We wouldn’t expect any change (of Busch Stadium’s name),” DeWitt told Strauss in an interview Monday. “We have a long-term contract for naming rights and sponsorship. … I don’t know the details of the proposed transaction. I know InBev has said St. Louis will continue as a headquarters and would assume that would be good for the Cardinals.”
The Cardinals have had a relationship with Anheuser-Busch that dates back well into last century. August A. Busch Jr., whose “number” 85 is retired by the club, purchased the club in February 1953 when he was president of the brewery. Under his ownership, the club flourished in the 1960s and won three World Series championships (1964, 1967 and then again in 1982).
The Budweiser Clydesdales became stars of the Cardinals’ renowned Opening Day festivities, a tradition that continues today.
Three ballparks have carried the name Busch Stadium, including old Sportsmans Park, the multi-purpose, arch-crownded circle that became synonymous with Whiteyball and the early success of the Tony La Russa era and the new, brick-styled downtown ballpark. It, technically, is Busch III.
“A-B’s association with the Cardinals has been very important for over 50 years and we would expect it to continue to be a terrific relationship and remain very important to the franchise,” DeWitt told Strauss on Monday. “Obviously, once the ownership and management structure becomes clear, we’ll want to sit down with the new group and talk to them about the relationship with the Cardinals.”
A group of investors led by DeWitt and several St. Louisans purchased the team from the brewery in March 1996.
Still, Busch is part of the mortar of the franchise and its home.
Advertising for Anheuser-Busch products is ubiquitous at the downtown ballpark. Many advertisements for A-B products have also included the Cardinals logo and played on the shared history as St. Louis institutions. Executives from both organizations have long had a hand-in-fielder’s glove relationship when it comes to marketing.
“It’s premature to talk about what InBev might want to do with the Cardinal relationship or other products at the ballpark,” DeWitt told Strauss. “The term ‘pouring rights’ is a misnomer. We have a variety of products that we sell. But we obviously favor the local brands. I wouldn’t expect any of that to change.”
More on the InBev takeover and how it relates to St. Louis and the Cardinals available all day today on StlToday.com and in Tuesday’s edition of the paper.
-30-
Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
I suspect Inbev won’t change much as the way of signage but I bet they don’t buy as many seats, luxury box seats or support promotions those items simply don’t add to the bottom line they subtract.
For all my fond associations with the Busch-owned, brewery-dominated Cardinals of my youth, let’s admit it. Budweiser isn’t exactly great beer. It’s mass-market American swill. U.S. brewing never recovered from Prohibition until the rise of imports and the amazing micro-/craft- brew revolution of the last 25 years. I, for one, am looking forward to my first visit to Beck’s Stadium, with not only a glorious baseball tradition but a name and a beer to be proud of, too.
I think the biggest change Redbird fans will notice will be half of the home games will be played in Brussels!
Regular Becks beer is left int he sun for 15 hours to give it the warm bitter taste. No thanks I’ll have a Bud.
“For all my fond associations with the Busch-owned, brewery-dominated Cardinals of my youth, let’s admit it. Budweiser isn’t exactly great beer. It’s mass-market American swill.”
I’m glad someone said it, and I couldn’t agree more. I like a number of things about Anheuser-Busch as a company, and I too have fond memories of their ties to the Cardinals, but I almost never drink any of their beers. The only time I can ever remember buying Bud or Bud Light was when I needed some beer for making a drink called a Flaming Dr. Pepper, because for that drink you do need a light-colored beer with a very neutral (i.e., bland) flavor.
I have to say that I’m not a big fan of Beck’s beer either though.
“But we obviously favor the local brands. I wouldn’t expect any of that to change.”
Does Mr. DeWitt realize that A-B will no longer be a ‘local brand’?
Not too crazy about the sound of Beck’s Stadium. Beck’s Ballpark .. enh. Just OK. But there are some real possibilities here. Nothing wrong with adding a little Busch Beer Hoegaarden to the outfield stands somewhere. Or, what about renaming the section under Big Mac Land? Call it “Out in Leffe Field”?
If some of the old baseball lore is true, Babe Ruth always knew where to find the Hoegaarden.
If I’m not mistaken, InBev sold the Toronto Blue Jays after they purchased LaBatt’s - they said baseball didn’t fit there plans.
Perhaps the A-B InBev takeover opens the gates for Bohemian Real-Budweiser Stadium.
How about those Patriots, who won all of their home games at Procter & Gamble Stadium last season…oh wait, they didn’t change the name when they bought Gillette.
For the sake of balance, let me say that I like Budweiser. It is, in fact, my favorite beer. It seems that a few others like it as well.
If we are going to keep it local, I’m all for Schlafly Stadium…..