Why Did Peyton Manning Promote Budweiser After The Super Bowl? He Owns A Stake In Two Louisiana Distributors

Anheuser Busch Inbev SA (ADR) BUD stock half-jokingly received some Twitter chatter on Sunday night after Super Bowl 50 victor Peyton Manning mentioned Budweiser in two separate post-game interviews. I'm going to "drink a lot of Budweiser tonight," he said on the field in a CBS interview. "[G]onna drink a lot of beer tonight...Budweiser. Von Miller’s buying," he said later after Miller received the Super Bowl MVP award.

So, AB Inbev sponsors Manning, right? Not exactly. In a tweet shortly after the comments, company marketing head Lisa Weser tweeted that "Budweiser did not pay Peyton Manning to mention Budweiser," adding, "We were surprised and delighted that he did."

Apex MG Analytics later said the two mentions were worth $3.2 million in advertising time.

Also of note, ESPN's Darren Rovell reported that although the NFL doesn't allow its athletes to endorse alcohol, Manning did not break any rules because AB Inbev didn't pay for the mentions, with one caveat. Manning reportedly has a stake in two Anheuser Busch distributors located in Louisiana, according to ESPN's Michele Steele. "Hence the Budweiser shoutouts," she added.

No current SEC filings indicate whether or not Manning holds publicly traded Anheuser Busch stock.

Shares of the brewer are down 3 percent on Monday morning, amid a broader market selloff. They're down 8.3 percent year-to-date, outperforming the broader market averages by about 1 percent.