on their investment.”
However, on the regulation side, things do not move as quickly or seamlessly as celebrities sometimes think.
“ They have no understanding of the alcohol industry being so different, so it’ s a learning curve for them as well,” said Danielle Weiss, Partner, Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.“ Usually, our clients will listen to us. Our specialty is name and likeness, and making sure their film and television deals not affected by, and remain compliant with, tied house laws.”
Typically, celebrities do not want to hold licenses for their alcohol products themselves, according to panelists. This is because famous folks have concerns about disclosure, and having their private information out there in the public. So many of these deals end up structured in a manner that talent do not have to get licenses themselves.
Another issue within this rising trend is tied house laws.
“ Celebrities want to do everything,” said Hobel“ They want to own a distillery and a restaurant. It can be hard to explain to them that they cannot do that. They say,‘ But I only hold 1 % or 2 % equity in the alcohol brand; I don’ t hold that much. But in in most states, that’ s still tied house.”
Harrison Martingayle, Associate Legal Counsel, NABCA, explained how the celebrity landscape has expanded significantly in the last five years. Martingayle, a former college athlete himself at LSU, delved into Name, Image, Likeness( NIL) deals that now exist because universities can pay their sports players.
This change took place in 2021. Anyone who follows college sports knows that this influx of new money has radically altered the landscape there. For instance, the importance of the transfer portal now in college football, and what it means for student athletes chasing more dollars. Martingayle explained how NIL deals are calculated using a proprietary equation.
“[ Texas Quarterback ] Arch Manning has the highest NIL value of $ 5.4 million,” he said.“ Young athletes are making a ton of money in space that was previously unheard of.”
This includes endorsement deals. Martingayle’ s alma mater recently signed a deal with Woodside Energy drinks. The company’ s logo will appear as a patch beneath LSU logos on the university’ s football player uniforms.
How much longer until an alcohol company does something similar? Just four days before NABCA Legal, Jägermeister announced a deal to become the official spirits partner of four colleges with major sports programs: Michigan, Florida, Oregon and, once again, LSU.
“ Schools are looking at any possible way to bring in more money to afford the cost of paying players,” said Martingayle,“ and alcohol brands trying to figure out how they can get involved in this lucrative market.”
WHAT TO DO AFTER ALCOHOL THEFT
Later that day was the panel, " Stolen Alcohol: Challenges for Consumers, Regulators & Industry." Theft remains an issue in the system, with several major robberies in recent years, including the wild disappearance of 24,000 bottles of Guy Fieri and Sammy Hagar’ s tequila brand, which inspired a“ 60 Minutes” segment.
“ Complexities in the supply chain create opportunities for bad guys to take truckloads of alcohol out of the supply chain,” said Matt Botting Principal Attorney, The Law Office of Matthew D. Botting.
What should a control state agency do when this sort of crime inevitably
The panel, " Stolen Alcohol: Challenges for Consumers, Regulators & Industry."
happens to products in their state? For answers, the panel featured several employees from the U. S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau( TTB).
“ Our interest in the situation is, of course, the federal excise tax,” said Anthony Gledhill, Assistant Administrator-Field Operations, TTB.“ TTB does not collect tax on product that’ s lost or destroyed. One exception is theft. The tax is not necessarily excused if the product is stolen. However, the burden is on the taxpayer, or any other person responsible for the excise tax. They can be excused if they can establish that such loss did not occur due to connivance, fraud or negligence on the part of the proprietor or their agents.”
“ Whoever the taxpayer is still responsible for the tax unless they can clear a high bar of showing that they have clean hands of this as tax evasion,” he added.“ So long as the taxpayer is not part of the scheme.”
Key things to present to the TTB when reporting such a theft include: The police report, commercial documents, proof of change of ownership, how much was stolen, how much was recovered, bills of leading, pick lists, bills of order and proof of payment.
And do not let the theft end up on“ 60 Minutes” or other media before reporting.
“ You need to file the claim early on,” said Scott McLaughlin, Acting Deputy Director- Tax Audit Division, TTB.“ If it’ s in the news already, and we didn’ t know about it yet, then that’ s a problem.” •
www. stateways. com Summer 2026 • StateWays 9