Soccer fans and their beer

It seems that the combination of beer and sports is a universal truth. I had written before on how Brazil was clammering for materials to be able to make enough beer for the World Cup. It seems as if South Africa is having a bit of a problem as well. The breweries of South Africa however had been preparing for this competition, because they had estimated that 17.6 million pints would be drank during the games. This crisis though is good news for South African Breweries (They also own Miller)
To ensure that the there will be enough beer for the fans, SABMiller has well-stocked refrigerated vans near host stadiums, so they can re-stock any bar at any time. They have also given a emergency phone number to all their buyers if beer get low. Their was also a statement released by the sales marketing manager for the FIFA World Cup which said, "Our plans are in place to accommodate this increase, so football fans can relax, there will be plenty of beer." This is good marketing for SABMiller especially since the World Cup's official beer is Budweiser
A-B Imbev bought the rights to be the sole distributor of beer at all the stadiums. They are not controlling however the bars in the surrounding areas or World Cup Fan Parks. A World Cup Fan Park is a park which is set-up by FIFA organizers to have big screen TV's and bars for all the fans who couldn't get tickets. It is estimated that these parks have around280,000 people a day.
This means that SAB can try to capitalize on all these other areas and really emphasis their brand name. I bet these local bars and Fan Parks have plenty of free advertising materials such as banners, t-shirts, and other paraphernalia which has a SABMiller logo. It will be interesting to see at the end of the World Cup how well SABMiller sales have done.

References:
http://beerinnovations.com/press/beer-industry-news/4380
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-11/sabmiller-makes-beer-can-to-cut-waste-missile-use-update1-.html