Grub game: How food and beverage brands activate around sports – The Martin Group

Being a sports fan can be a hungry (and thirsty) business.

According to recent estimates, the typical fan now spends thousands of dollars per year on food and beverages tied to their fan activities, whether at a game, watching at a bar, or simply settling into their couch. Being a fan has now been commodified, and if you want to join in, you better grab something to eat. Or drink. Or both.

As we approach October, we’re about to enter the only months of the year when all of the four major pro sports—along with NCAA action—play at the same time. That’s an exhausting amount of sports—but there are also many opportunities for global food and beverage brands.

Now’s the time of year when household names behind hamburgers, chicken wings, and the coldest of beers unleash sponsorship dollars with sports teams and leagues that topped $4 billion in 2025; and order major ad buys that, last year, were part of a $250 billion global sports marketing ecosystem. 

But once the money is allocated, what tactics do food and bev brands use to connect with the now more than 4 billion individuals that identify themselves as sports fans?

In honor of September’s Food and Beverage Month, let’s explore some of the tactics brands have been using to activate and get their tastes in front of consumers—especially at a time when gametime is basically all the time.

Find a fan, earn a fan

An easy way to find fans and get your products in their hands? Go to the place they congregate, get hungry and thirsty, and gear up for live action.

This has led food and beverage brands to activate around a specific team or sport by inserting themselves into the on-site fan experience. Examples like branded food trucks and fan zones, street teams patrolling parking lots, and the establishment of interactive tasting and drinking kiosks near arenas and stadiums aim to reach crowds before games start—and when fan congregation is at its most fervent.

Brands like Coca-Cola have built their sports marketing around such tactics, appearing at major championships and tournaments to connect with fans and make sure each knows they are their priority. Their “Fan work is thirsty work” campaign—across pro and college football—is a prime example of this, with stadium tailgating and watch parties used to inspire hyper-localized, social-first content and creator partnerships. Limited-edition packaging for dozens of colleges and professional teams took the connection further, enabling fans to scan QR codes on packs to access customized team experiences, games, and more.

Special merch satisfies fan hunger (and thirst)

Despite the explosion of intangible elements replacing traditional gameday keepsakes like paper tickets, one truth is irrefutable: fans still like to get stuff they can hold, collect, and display.

This has pushed brands to create and distribute memorabilia that creates an affiliation with a team or a sport and provide a one-of-a-kind item that fans will line up to buy. McDonald’s has also been on top of this trend for decades, creating limited edition cups for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and duplicating the feat with the FIFA World Cup Meal for this past summer’s FIFA Men’s World Cup. This season, they’re debuting meal deals for specific NFL fanbases (see: Buffalo Bills) that include limited edition bobbleheads with their cheeseburgers, nuggets, and fries.

And for beer brands looking to give their drinkers a highly specific taste of a particular fan moment, there’s Coors Light, who turned a lights-out Shohei Ohtani home run into a limited-edition collector’s can.

These specialized efforts connect food and beverage brands with sought-after sports fans, each hungry for the collectible nature of these giveaways. And with the current global collectibles market now worth near $300 billion, this hunger isn’t going away any time soon.

Famous collabs still work

Famous athletes and coaches sell things. This is not new—but it is timelessly effective, with modern brands now partnering with sports personalities to build affiliation, capitalize on notoriety amongst fans, and turn those knowledgeable fans into customers.

For a good recent example of how to activate with current or former pro athletes, look to Frito-Lay. The company spent last year leaning on legendary NFL champions like Rob Gronkowski and Marshawn Lynch for their “Taste of Victory” campaign around the Super Bowl; then turned the famous “Olé” stadium chant into “Oh-Lay’s” across a multi-channel campaign–with the help of current soccer icon Lionel Messi—throughout the FIFA Men’s World Cup.

In all instances, these tactics not only connect brands with fans. It aligns sandwiches and sodas with the mania of sports, now a 12-month-a-year ordeal that captures our hearts, minds—and wallets. Brands need to be there.

And with the right moves and messaging, they can become part of the game.

Ready to learn more about The Martin Group’s work with global sports brands? Click here.