PepsiCo has secured exclusive pouring rights at Arizona Athletic Grounds (AAG) in Mesa, Ariz., under a multimillion-dollar founding partnership running through 2033. The seven-year deal makes PepsiCo the official soft drink partner of one of North America's largest sports and entertainment complexes, with its beverage portfolio deployed across every food and beverage touchpoint on the 275-acre campus.
Portfolio & Placement
The agreement covers a wide brand lineup — Gatorade, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Starry, Aquafina, LIFEWTR, Starbucks-licensed beverages, Celsius, Alani Nu, and Rockstar Energy — distributed through AAG's three fieldhouses, sports bar, food court, performance center, and all outdoor competition venues. Beyond pouring rights, the deal includes signage, digital and IPTV inventory, and year-round activation rights at AAG's marquee tournaments, giving PepsiCo direct exposure to competitive youth, amateur, and professional events throughout the calendar year.
For foodservice and hospitality operators, the structure of this deal reflects a broader trend in sports venue beverage contracting: bundling traditional pouring rights with energy, hydration, and performance drink brands under a single partnership umbrella. That consolidation simplifies vendor management while ensuring PepsiCo's fastest-growing categories — functional beverages like Celsius and Alani Nu — get prominent placement alongside legacy carbonated soft drink brands.
Traffic & Revenue Implications
AAG drew nearly 3 million visitors in 2025 and had already logged 1.8 million through mid-2026, a 6% year-over-year increase. The venue has hosted national-profile events including a 2026 FIFA World Cup Base Camp for the Türkiye Men's National Soccer Team, PPA Tour, MLS NEXT, Nike EYBL, USA Basketball, and Major League Pickleball. That traffic volume makes the pouring-rights agreement commercially significant: high-frequency, multi-day tournament events generate sustained per-capita beverage spend across concessions and retail points throughout the campus.
Mike Burke, CEO of Arizona Athletic Grounds, noted that the PepsiCo investment will help keep prices for amenities competitive — a pressure point that sports venue operators across the country are navigating as construction and staffing costs rise. Shay Hobby, Senior Vice President of the West Region for PepsiCo Beverages U.S., framed the partnership around the breadth of the company's portfolio and the scale of AAG's athlete and family audience.
For operators tracking beverage industry deal structures and venue pouring contracts, the AAG agreement illustrates how major beverage companies are prioritizing large multi-use sports campuses — not just professional arenas — as high-value brand platforms. The combination of youth sports participation, family traffic, and elite event hosting creates a diversified audience that legacy stadium deals rarely capture. Operators managing similar multi-use restaurant and hospitality venues should note how the bundled activation rights — digital, IPTV, and event integration — have become standard components of contemporary pouring-rights negotiations rather than optional add-ons.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
