Opinion ID: 169412
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Calf Fry

Text: 2 The Tumbleweed bar, which caters to young adults, is in Stillwater, Oklahoma, about ten miles from Oklahoma State University. Each year Tumbleweed hosts a country-music concert called the Calf Fry. Anheuser-Busch, the brewer of Budweiser beers, paid $7500 to sponsor the Calf Fry held on May 3-4, 2002. The Concert Sponsorship Agreement (the Agreement) between Anheuser-Busch and the Promoter, TryAd Promotions and Jennifer Hasel, dated April 19, 2002, makes Anheuser-Busch the exclusive title sponsor and the exclusive alcohol and non-alcohol malt beverage sponsor of the event. Aplt.App. Vol. I at 64. 3 Under the Agreement the Promoter promised to spend at least $15,000 publicizing the event, and advertising materials were to contain such slogans as Budweiser King of Beers Presents. Id. Vol. II at 402. Anheuser-Busch retained the right to approve [a]ll public news media announcements prepared by Promoter concerning [Anheuser-Busch's] sponsorship of the event, id. Vol. I at 65, and it reserved the right to terminate the Agreement if the Promoter or any of the event's performers commits an act or becomes involved in a situation or occurrence which, in [Anheuser-Busch's] reasonable and good faith opinion, tends to provoke, shock or offend the community or any sizeable group or class thereof, or if [a performer] publicly disparages [Anheuser-Busch] or its products, id. at 66. Numerous signs at the event advertised Budweiser products. Tumbleweed apparently requested that Anheuser-Busch also hang signs that provided information about pricing and directions to food, and Anheuser-Busch may have provided these signs free of charge. 4 In the Agreement the Promoter promised that each component event of the Calf Fry would be attended by at least 1500 people and would have adequate security and crowd control arrangements [and be] conducted in a manner that does not result in injury to persons or damage to property. Id. at 65. Also, the Promoter warranted that neither it nor any person, firm or company affiliated with or otherwise related to [it] is a retailer of alcohol beverages and none of them has any ownership interest, directly or indirectly, in any alcohol beverage retail license. Id. at 68. The Agreement explicitly aimed to separate Anheuser-Busch's sponsorship and underwriting of advertising costs from its provision of alcohol. The Promoter warranted that 5 [t]here is no agreement or understanding between [Anheuser-Busch] and Promoter that, as consideration for [Anheuser-Busch's] purchase of advertising under this Agreement, either Promoter or any person, firm or company affiliated with or otherwise related to Promoter will require any alcohol beverage retail licensee to purchase any alcohol beverage produced, sold or offered for sale by [Anheuser-Busch]. 6 Id. Similarly, Anheuser-Busch warranted that it ha[d] no agreement with any alcohol beverage licensee related to or respecting this Agreement. Id. at 69. Another warranty by the Promoter was that [t]he rights purchased under this Agreement are being purchased at a rate no higher than that at which such rights are available to other prospective purchasers. Id. 7 In addition to sponsoring the Calf Fry, Anheuser-Busch provided its products at the event. Because Tumbleweed lacked the equipment to serve draft beer, Anheuser-Busch brought trucks to keep kegs of beer refrigerated and ran draft lines from the kegs to the points of sale. Its employees were on site to work with the beer retailers to ensure that the beer's delivery was successful and to troubleshoot any problems that arose. An Anheuser-Busch employee admitted at his deposition that it had the responsibility to make sure that the beer was properly supplied. Id. at 202. Anheuser-Busch's staff instructed Tumbleweed employees on the proper operation of the draft equipment, but no Anheuser-Busch employee poured or served beer to retail customers during the event. Although beer from other brewers was available at the Calf Fry, Anheuser-Busch was the predominant provider of beer at the event, Aplt.App. Vol. II at 481, and was the only provider that had beer trucks onsite. 8 Tumbleweed paid Anheuser-Busch for each keg that was actually tapped. Tumbleweed served some beer without charge to patrons at the event, but it had purchased this beer from Anheuser-Busch. At least one Anheuser-Busch employee received a commission on the amount of beer sold at the Calf Fry.