Major League Baseball

MLB disputes Anheuser-Busch's view of sponsorship

Published Dec. 14, 2010 6:59 p.m. ET

foxsports

Major League Baseball is disputing Anheuser-Busch's account of its negotiations over the brewer's decades-long sponsorship.

Lawyers for MLB's promotional arm filed papers in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday to challenge claims Anheuser-Busch made in a lawsuit. The maker of Budweiser says MLB was trying to back out of an April agreement to extend the company's exclusive sponsorship deal.

MLB says in response that Anheuser-Busch was trying to turn a nonbinding letter of intent into an enforceable agreement for exclusive promotional rights for next year and beyond.

The company has asked a federal judge to declare the April agreement binding. St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch has been an MLB sponsor for more than 30 years.