Storm brewing over Berlin’s Olympic stadium

Whose beer will be served at the famous Olympic stadium - that is the question. Will it be Warsteiner, which is the beer sponsor of the Olympic Stadium, or Carlsberg, which is the beer sponsor of the local football team Herta BSC.

In July, Warsteiner brewery announced that it had become the official sponsor of the Olympic Stadium, believing that it had the right to serve its beer during all events taking place there. To Warsteiner, that includes the football matches hosted by Herta BSC, the local Berlin football club. However, Herta BSC does not agree since it thinks its new sponsor, Carlsberg, should have the right to do just that.

What adds a bit of spice to the legal quibbles that will eventually be solved by the lawyers is that Warsteiner used to be the official sponsor of Herta BSC until the end of last season. That’s when the contract ran out. Obviously, Herta BSC had decided that another sponsor, and an international one to boot, might offer more along pecuniary lines than a German sponsor. Perhaps Carlsberg was willing to cough up more than Warsteiner.

However, Warsteiner was far from idle. Call them clever or cunning, yet at the end of the day the brewers from faraway Warstein clinched a deal with the owner of the Olympic Stadium, the city of Berlin, which is notoriously short of money and probably quite happy to have found a sponsor in Warsteiner. It must have been a bit of a “wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more”-agreement that Warsteiner struck with the stadium operator as both parties must have been fully aware of the potential legal clashes with Herta BSC.

As said above, some highly-paid lawyers will have to solve the issue and soon. After all, the new football season will be kicked off in August and Herta BSC’s 45,000 fans or so that attend each match are not known for their militant sobriety. Someone will have to serve them a beer.