Sports & Wine

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CNBC’s Sports Biz blog had an interesting post today:

Time To Wine?
Most sports leagues have official beer sponsorships, but it might be time to consider wine deals. Nielsen found that wine consumption among U.S. sports fans was up $14.60 in 2006 to $81.40 per household. The highest spending fan, believe it or not, was in households with at least one fan of the LPGA ($125). Tennis fans came in second ($111.90) and PGA fans finished third at $109.40 — spending for them actually went down in 2006 by some 30 percent. The biggest gain was among NFL fans who spent more than 60 percent more on wine this year than last year. An NFL fan household now spends $94.30. Sports figures who own wine brands include: Mike Ditka, Tom Seaver, Greg Norman, Joe Montana, Mario Andretti and John Madden.

You know, I had one beer during the Super Bowl (a Bass) and then moved into a nice Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Last year I popped open a Three Thieves Cab Sauv, as the wine and the game seemed to go well together. Maybe an "official wine" wouldn’t be a bad idea. Wouldn’t it have been cool if Mike Ditka’s wine had been the official wine sponsor of this year’s Super Bowl? Greg Norman wines could sponsor golf tournaments. The end result – wine not as snobby fare, but as a drink for the average joe.

Yeah, I’m not sure it could, or should, happen either. But it does bring up interesting thoughts.