Business

Budweiser contest offers hockey tickets for life

But NHL affiliates are distancing themselves from the “Playoff Payoff” promotion

Budweiser may be one of Canada’s bestselling beers, but a recent promotion—made especially for the NHL playoff season—could leave beer drinkers with a foul aftertaste. The company’s Canada-wide “Playoff Payoff” promotion, which offers participants the chance to win hockey tickets “for life,” isn’t exactly kosher with the NHL itself. The league (whose official beer partner is Molson) issued a statement on the Edmonton Oilers website on April 24, distancing itself from the campaign: “You may have heard about a contest promoting the chance to win ‘hockey tickets for life.’ We want our fans to know that neither the Edmonton Oilers nor the NHL have an affiliation with that promotion.”

In short, the NHL won’t back up Budweiser’s promise. Or as Hockey Blog in Canada pointed out, since Budweiser is not an official sponsor of the NHL, it’s unlikely a hockey team whose tickets sell out pre-season (like the Winnipeg Jets) will be obligated, or even able, to provide an unaffiliated contest winner with tickets.

For its part, Budweiser issued a statement that it will “deliver” on the promise, while highlighting the fine print—those free tickets don’t necessarily have to be for NHL games. A final word to Bud drinkers: OHL, here you come.

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