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Sports sponsorships, particularly those for such big franchises as the National Hockey League and such viewer-heavy events as the Stanley Cup, cost brands an enormous sum of money to secure.

So it’s no surprise that Labatt, which lost a high-profile court battle over sponsorship rights against official NHL beer sponsor Molson last year, has seemingly raised the ire of the NHL and Molson with its new Budweiser “Playoff Payoff” promotion.

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The contest promises “Hockey Tickets for Life!” — but does not specify which hockey tickets.

Consumers can look for “Playoff Payoff” PINs under the bottle caps of specially marked cases of Budweiser and on bar and restaurant coasters. They can enter those PINs to join the contest, which began last month and runs until the third week of June, at KingsClub.ca.

Labatt says the grand prize winner has a chance to win hockey tickets for 50 years to any Canadian hockey team of his or her choice, for 20 games a year in that team’s home city.