Anheuser-Busch extended their deal with Major League Baseball through 2018:

With the partnership, America’s largest brewer will sponsor MLB Opening Week, the Player of the Month Awards, the league’s Fan Cave and will be the presenting sponsor of the new one-game faceoff between two wild-card teams to further advance into the playoffs.

The deal comes on the heels of a two-year deal that was struck as part of a settlement from a lawsuit in 2010. Anheuser-Busch claimed Major League Baseball was renegging on terms of a new deal, while MLB claimed it was not informed in negotiations that the brewer had recently signed a six-year deal to be the official beer sponsor of the NFL, a contract which is reportedly worth $1.2 billion.

The story does not indicate how much the beer maker pays MLB, but this is just another example of money flowing into the sport due to the ability of the game to attract live viewers in an age of downloaded content. It’s going to be a very good winter for free agents.

The article does raise a trend that makes me wonder if the beer maker can survive:

According to a recent Gallup Poll, only 39 percent of American drinkers aged 18 to 34 said they preferred beer in 2011. That’s down from 53 percent in 2001. Wine jumped from 16 percent to 29 percent in the age group. Last year, also marked the first time in a decade that Anheuser-Busch shipped less than 100 million barrels worldwide, according to Beer Marketers Insights, a trade publication.

While the beer industry as a whole is up about one percent in the first half of the year, craft beer is up 12 percent in volume and 14 percent in revenue, according to the trade group The Brewers Association. This year figures to be the third straight double-digit increase for those smaller brewers.

I prefer single malt Scotch myself, or a good bourbon.