"bit" news and stories

Budweiser is official beer of World Cup, the most internationally watched sporting event in the world. They bought the rights for the 2002 and 2006 games for about $80 million in 1998 - before they knew where those games were to be hosted. The problem is that this year's World Cup is hosted by Germany and Germans don't like Budweiser.

For Germans, beer and football (soccer, for the Americans) go hand in hand and Germans are some of the biggest beer drinkers in the world - with many outstanding brews coming from their own country. The prospect of having to drink only Budweiser at the games was something of a slap in the face to German brewers. One fan, cited the Wall Street Journal, even said "This is just the worst beer you could imagine." Bad publicity poured from fans and the press. And to make matters worse, the beer had to be sold as "Anheuser Busch Bud" because of a legal battle over the Budweiser name rights with a Czech brewer that makes "Budweis" beer.

With the prospect of millions of potential beer drinkers, both in stadiums and at home, Budweiser knew they had to do something. Fast.