It’s the time of year for slam dunks and sneakers squeaking on the hardwood. With both the pro and college basketball seasons underway, fans across the country are ready to come together and cheer on their favorite teams—often with a beverage in hand.
That’s why Molson Coors’ brands are ready with a host of key basketball alliance partners. Whether it’s courtside or couch-side, we’re helping fans celebrate every moment of the season with our biggest brands.
For pro basketball, Coors Light has key alliances with the Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trailblazers, Sacramento Kings and the New Orleans Pelicans, while Miller Lite is partnering with the Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics. Coors Light and Miller Lite are also aligned with numerous top ranked men's and women’s college basketball programs, including UConn, Michigan, Louisville and UCLA.
Expect both brands to have a presence at games all season along. Luckily for fans, it doesn’t stop in the arena. They’ll see their favorite teams and favorite beer brands in local markets all week long—from out-of-home signage to grocery store displays to targeted social media ads, helping to make their basketball season viewing-experience a slam dunk.
As fans raise a toast to their hometown team or alma mater, we dug back into our own archives to see how Molson Coors’ brands and basketball have been intertwined for decades.
Coors and Miller High Life
Molson Coors has been fanatical about basketball even before the most popular pro league was even formed. While it’s unknown who is sporting the Coors jersey, left, the photo has been dated to the 1920s, meaning that even during prohibition, Coors couldn't get enough of the game.
With sports central to its marketing efforts throughout the years, including baseball and football, Miller High Life also sponsored teams throughout the 20th century. In 1982, the brand even developed a Miller High Life-branded basketball with a leading sporting goods producer, which legal drinking-age consumers could order by sending money to a P.O. Box in Milwaukee.
Miller Lite
Sports were also integral to Miller Lite’s early success. Throughout the ’90s, the brand highlighted basketball in many ways, including providing the “scoop on hoops” in 1992, a specialty logo with the look of a basketball in 1994, and an ad that looked like the ultimate basketball trophy in 1995.
Miller Genuine Draft
Miller Genuine Draft also went big with basketball in the ‘90s. The brand created loads of basketball-themed items for point-of-sale, including actual basketballs, like this one from 1994. The image on the right, also from the same time, was used to promote MGD at arenas around the country, including teams in Chicago and Los Angeles.
Coors Light and Coors Banquet
While Coors was an early fan of the sport, the brewer continued supporting the game, as the above “in your face” ad from 2004 shows. Much like it did with football, Coors Light also found creative ways to put the game literally on its packaging, as it did for the above bottle from 2014. Coors also created this basketball tap marker in 2015.
Molson Coors is ready to be courtside for basketball’s biggest moments this year—with brands like Coors Light and Miller Lite activating at arenas, on-premise accounts and in the grocery aisle. Plus, with Molson Coors’ portfolio of brands, from iconic beers to non-alc options, there’s something to cheer for all season long.