Kobe Bryant's BodyArmor replaces Powerade as NCAA's official sports drink

·Staff writer

15 November 2018 at 1:27 pm

Kobe Bryant’s investment in BodyArmor sports drink keeps looking smarter and smarter. (AP)

Kobe Bryant’s smart investment just got even smarter. According to the Sports Business Journal, the NCAA is ditching Powerade as its official sports drink and going with BodyArmor, a sports drink that Bryant invested in, instead.

Bryant originally invested $6 million in BodyArmor in 2014, which amounted to a 10-percent stake in the company. Coca-Cola bought a 15-percent stake in the company in August 2018, and based on that deal, the value of Bryant’s 10-percent stake jumped to a stunning $200 million. And that was all before the NCAA made BodyArmor its official sports drink.

This looks like a huge change for the NCAA, but BodyArmor and Powerade are both owned by Coca-Cola, which is one of three of the NCAA’s top corporate sponsors. Powerade was introduced 30 years ago, and is one of Coca-Cola’s legacy brands. It looks like Coca-Cola decided to push one of its lesser-known brands into the spotlight, and there’s no brighter spotlight than the NCAA’s college basketball tournament, which contains literally hundreds of moments for college athletes to be recorded and photographed drinking BodyArmor.

But that’s just one of 90 NCAA college sports tournaments. BodyArmor is now the official drink for all of them. This key sponsorship will likely push the value of Bryant’s investment even higher. The NCAA is relentless when it comes to plugging in their sponsors at every possible opportunity. Nearly every single aspect of their college hoops tournament is sponsored, from score breaks to game highlights and everything in between. Even the traditional cutting of the net is sponsored by a ladder company.

Does this mean Kobe will be on hand to personally hand cups and bottles of BodyArmor to thirsty players and coaches during the tournament? Probably not, but we can hope.

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter at @lizroscher.