Sports

Anheuser-Busch Expresses Concern Over NFL’s Handling of Domestic Abuse

Christian Datoc Senior White House Correspondent
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Anheuser-Busch released an official statement Tuesday denoting serious concern over the NFL’s handling of the various domestic abuse cases plaguing the 2014 season.

“We are disappointed and increasingly concerned by the recent incidents that have overshadowed this NFL season,” the company wrote in a statement. “We are not yet satisfied with the league’s handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code. We have shared our concerns and expectations with the league.”

Anheuser-Busch has been the official beer of the NFL since 2011 and has paid for nearly $150 million in advertising during the last five Super Bowls alone, reports David Moore for USA Today. During that timespan, Anheuser-Busch stood firm by the NFL and its choices in handling player misconduct, yet the comments issued on Tuesday expressed a sharp departure from that stance.

Other high-profile sponsors have dropped players in the wake of the domestic abuse allegations — Adrian Peterson and his former Radisson Hotels contract, for example — but the potential loss of the NFL’s biggest sponsor could spell catastrophe for the Goodell administration.

In a Tuesday column, NBC Sports correspondent Michael Smith noted that “the moment Goodell’s mismanagement of this issue costs the owners money is the day Goodell loses the support of the owners.”