The World Aquatics Championships Has an Official Beer Supplier

On Monday, as World Aquatics begins its final ramp to the World Aquatics Championships that run from July 11 to August 3 in Singapore, both those championships and the overlapping World Masters Championships now have an official beer supplier: Corona.

The Mexican-owned beer is the top-selling brand of imported beer in the United States, the world’s fastest-growing beer brand (2023), but most relevantly is not a significant player in the $9.3 billion Singaporean imported beer market, where the population is relatively small (6 million) but relatively wealthy ($85k per capita).

Aquatics have not historically been friendly to vice-sponsorships like alcohol companies, instead preferring to cultivate a more family-friendly image. While World Aquatics (and its predecessor FINA) have partnered with alcohol companies, that has usually been hospitality-focused and not part of any global sponsorship portfolio. Likewise, while there has been occasional branding at local or regional meets sold by local organizing committees, these partnerships have never been prominently place.

But as aquatic sports explore new revenue streams, partnerships with alcohol brands, which are among the biggest industry spenders on sports marketing globally, were inevitable. Most of the major sports governing bodies have them, like Heineken in the UEFA Champions League or Formula 1; Guinness in 6 Nations Rugby; and a variety of beers in the major American pro sports leagues.

Ironically, the deal was struck under the tenure of World Aquatics President Captain Husain Al Musallam, who comes from Kuwait – a country where the sale, importation, and consumption of alcohol is banned and illegal. Then again, he also comes from a country without any significant aquatics history, so this partnership aligns with a resume of paradoxes.

“Excitement is growing among the global aquatics family for the World Aquatics Championships and the World Aquatics Masters Championships in Singapore, and we are thrilled that Corona will be a part of these spectacular showcases of aquatic sports and our athletes,” President Al Musallam said. “We look forward to working closely with Corona to deliver memorable experiences for our athletes, fans and all stakeholders.”

Many swimming insiders have long believed that vice-marketing, most prominently gambling, are a key part of any commercial growth strategy. Gambling, of course, is the golden goose (or perhaps the white whale) of every second-tier spectator sport trying to break through, with the hopes that it will lead to deeper levels of engagement, in addition to the direct money flow.

The shifting commercialization of swimming is no longer even about growth. The status quo isn’t even enough to maintain in an increasingly-crowded landscape where more sports are globalizing and fighting for the same pie. One of my least favorite stories of swimming’s refusal to attempt to reach new audiences is from the 2013 US National Championships. My dad was walking out of his seat to use the bathroom and stumbled upon a Ryan Lochte autograph scrum in the back hallway at The Nat. It was very casual and informal, so he stuck his hat in for a signature, and was promptly shoo’ed away by Lochte’s USA Swimming handlers for not fighting the target demographic (kids under the age of 12).

While my dad will always keep a connection to the sport via my work with SwimSwam, in any other scenario, that means an individual who probably watches well north of 1,500 hours of sports programming annually and spends thousands of dollars on attending sporting events may have felt scorned by the message that “you don’t matter.”

And that’s the attitude that swimming has to drop in order to grow, that nothing matters except the status quo. I know what the response will be to this partnership – it will be a chunk of individuals who applaud it, and a chunk who were mad about Summer McIntosh having a Red Bull logo on her suit at Canadian Nationals.

But alcohol at swim meets will improve energy in the arena (which is tragic at most swim meets, most of the time). Alcohol at swim meets will produce a feedback loop of increasing interest in the event, because big brands create marketing feedback loops.

Beer is not for kids – this much is true. But the NBA and NFL and MLB all market to kids while advertising for beer. Kids won’t stop watching swimming because the sport has a beer sponsorship, kids see their parents drink beer all the time, and D.A.R.E. didn’t work.

It’s time for our sport to grow up a little bit and understand that we can do both: find ways to cater to both adult and youth audiences, sell our advertising without acting like we’re selling our souls, and find more beer money.