Modelo Bets Bigger on College Football With a 'Tradition' Campaign
Updated: 3 days ago
Modelo has raised its college football media investment 18% year on year for 'It's Not Just Game Day. It's Tradition.', a three-spot campaign with school-specific packaging as official beer of the College Football Playoff.
What Modelo launched
Constellation Brands' Modelo has launched 'It's Not Just Game Day. It's Tradition.', a college football campaign built on three broadcast spots — 'Same Time, Next Year,' 'Texting' and 'Taste of the Tailgate' — running on ESPN, FOX and NBC. As official beer sponsor of the College Football Playoff, the brand raised its media investment 18% year on year.
The push adds school-specific limited-edition packaging for Georgia, Miami, Oregon, Ohio State and Tennessee, plus partnerships with Barstool Sports and apparel brand Homefield and a consumer sweepstakes running from August 2026 to January 2027.
Why it matters
Beer and football is the oldest pairing in American advertising, but the category is fragmenting as Modelo, Michelob Ultra and Coors fight over the same tailgate. Modelo overtook Bud Light as America's top-selling beer in 2023, and it is now defending that lead by buying deeper into fan ritual rather than just airtime.
Our read: the smart move is the packaging, not the ad spend. School-specific cans turn a national sponsorship into dozens of local identities, giving fans a reason to pick Modelo off the shelf in their own team's colours. That is retail activation dressed as sports marketing.
What businesses should do
Look past the TV buy to the shelf. An 18% media increase gets attention, but the school-specific packaging is what converts a broadcast sponsorship into a purchase decision. If you sponsor anything, ask what physical, ownable object lets fans express their allegiance through your product.
And lean into ritual over event. 'Tradition' beats 'game day' because it stretches the association across a whole season and every future one. Brands that tie themselves to recurring habits, not single fixtures, buy a far longer tail of relevance.
Quick FAQ
How much did Modelo increase its college football spend?
Modelo raised its college football media investment 18% year on year for the 2026 season.
What makes the campaign locally relevant?
Limited-edition packaging in the colours of Georgia, Miami, Oregon, Ohio State and Tennessee turns a national sponsorship into team-specific retail activation.
Where are the ads running?
The three spots run across ESPN, FOX and NBC, supported by Barstool Sports and Homefield partnerships and a season-long sweepstakes.
Modelo's headline is the 18% spend bump, but the real weapon is the packaging. School-colour cans turn one national sponsorship into fifty local ones — that's how you convert a TV audience into a shelf decision. Tie your brand to ritual, not a single fixture. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
The ad spend gets the headline, but school-specific packaging is what turns a sponsorship into a sale — activation beats airtime.
Does your sponsorship give fans something to hold, or just something to watch?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Constellation Brands, Yahoo Sports.
Related reading
Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
Comments