Pepsi Beats Coke For Lucrative NBA Sponsorship

(RTTNews) - Soft drink giant PepsiCo managed to win exclusive sponsorship for prestigious U.S. National Basketball Association or NBA, replacing its major rival Coca-Cola. Pepsico's Mountain Dew will be the new food and beverage brand for NBA, the Development League, as well as USA Basketball. Details of the deal will be revealed later today.

Coca cola has been the NBA sponsor since 1986 and Sprite has been the official soft drink since 1994. The new sponsorship, which will start with the new season, is for a period of five years.

Pepsico is at the second place in U.S. beverage market with 10.3 percent market share, while Mountain Dew enjoys third position with 8.7 percent share.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola replaced Pepsi as the official beverage partner at Major League Soccer and won the sponsorship for the United States Soccer Federation.