Red Light For Bud Light

The North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission denied June 17 Raleigh city officials’ request to allow Anheuser-Busch to buy naming rights to the city’s new 5,000-capacity amphitheatre.

In May Raleigh officials, Anheuser-Busch and its local distributor put together the proposal to name the shed Bud Light Amphitheatre. The deal would have given the city $300,000 a year for five years but required an ABC exemption to complete the deal, according to the Independent Weekly.

State liquor advertising regulations prohibit the use of alcoholic beverage names on public venues, so the commission denied the plan. The city is again looking for new sponsors, the paper said.

The Live Nation-booked venue, currently called Raleigh Boutique Amphitheatre, opened with the Backstreet Boys June 6 and has a full schedule of concerts through mid-September.