The NFL is again growing its alcohol sponsor roster, signing up  E. & J. Gallo Winery as the league’s wine sponsor.

Gallo’s Barefoot brand will headline the deal in the early days, but the NFL described the pact as a “multi-branded, multi-year agreement.” Gallo’s other brands include Apothic, Black Box, J Vineyards and Winery, La Marca Prosecco and Orin Swift. The deal does not include Gallo’s non-wine brands, such as New Amsterdam Vodka and High Noon hard seltzers, which are among the company’s hottest offerings. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The pact further erodes Anheuser-Busch InBev’s hold on the alcohol category sponsorship for the NFL. The brewer for years was the sole alcohol sponsor under league rules that prohibited liquor sponsors. That ban was lifted in 2019, two years after the league first began allowing spirits ads, and Diageo signed on in 2021 as the NFL’s first liquor sponsor. 

AB InBev-owned Babe Wine had previously held the NFL’s wine sponsorship, which marked the league's first wine partner.

The move to add separate wine, liquor and beer sponsors continues the league’s approach to open up new sponsorship categories, which has boosted its revenues from corporate partners. The total rights fees haul for the league and its teams swelled to $1.8 billion last season, up 12% from the previous season, according to IEG, a sponsorship consultancy. The surge was driven in part by the NFL’s new embrace of gambling sponsorships.

AB InBev has for years controlled exclusive Super Bowl ad rights in the alcohol category, which has given it unparalleled access to TV’s biggest audience of the year. An AB InBev representative did not immediately answer a question on the status of that arrangement. The brewer is also the league’s official hard seltzer sponsor as part of a multi-year sponsorship renewal it signed last year with the NFL. 

Gallo’s deal includes “local team activation, player imagery and appearances, on-site presence at premier events, and broadcast, digital, and social content from NFL Kickoff through the Super Bowl,” according to the NFL’s announcement of the deal.

Tracie Rodburg, NFL senior VP for sponsorship management, in a statement said: "We look forward to pairing E. & J. Gallo's extensive portfolio of wines, including its iconic brand Barefoot, with our fans, clubs and premiere events for memorable NFL experiences."  

E. & J. Gallo Chief Marketing Officer Stephanie Gallo stated: "As an industry leader our role is to welcome new consumers to the wine category in unique and relevant ways. This partnership will do just that by bringing our avid fan bases together. The notion of togetherness seems more relevant now more than ever."