“For us, the future of sport means continuing to invest in young and diverse athlete communities, cutting edge leagues, and embracing all athletic journeys,” writes Jeff Kearny, responsible for sports marketing and brand management at Gatorade, on his LinkedIn profile. This, in fact, means that Gatorade will not renew its contract with the NHL. The contract had been in place since 2006.
The focus at Gatorade will now be on college sports deals, investments in women’s athletes and competitions, and the metaverse. Gatorade has been involved in all major American sports leagues for years and continues to have contracts with the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Baseball (MLB).
A month earlier, Gatorade’s parent company, Pepsi, downgraded its contract with the NFL. Among other things, this means that Pepsi will no longer sponsor the Super Bowl halftime show.
