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The NFL, a Billion-Dollar Company with a Beer Sponsor, Fined Kyle Juszczyk $15,000 For Pretending to Drink a Beer (Which He Says Wasn’t Beer)

By Matt Schultz

Published: Sep 25th, 2026 · 10:51 AM EDT

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The NFL does tone-deaf, counterintuitive stuff all the time, but this one feels particularly rough: the league fined 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk $15,000 for his Week 2 touchdown celebration where he pretended to drink a beer:

NFL fined 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk $14,926 for engaging in an offensive demonstration Sunday vs. Miami. “Your imitation of chugging a beer constituted an offensive demonstration and could reasonably be construed as being in poor taste,” the NFL wrote in its fine letter.… pic.twitter.com/0ERUN30MN8

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 24, 2026

The irony of the NFL fining Juszczyk for this is pretty on-the-nose stuff. The NFL is essentially one large commercial for beer. Fan culture is built around drinking beer. The NFL’s broadcasting partners show beer ads constantly and they all make insane amounts of money doing it. Here are some quick-hitter facts on the NFL-beer-money situation that I just found on Google:

• The NFL’s single largest beer advertiser is Anheuser-Busch InBev. Through their renewal running through the 2026–27 season, Anheuser-Busch pays the NFL an estimated $250 million annually to keep Bud Light as the “official beer and hard seltzer sponsor” of the league.
• Total sponsorship revenue across all 32 NFL teams reached $2.49 billion. The alcoholic beverage category is the 3rd largest revenue driver for individual teams, accounting for $205 million annually in localized team sponsorships.
• Beer companies spend roughly $685 million per year on television ads. Because NFL games dominate American television ratings, the vast majority of this budget is concentrated heavily on pro football broadcasts.
• For the Super Bowl alone, the alcohol industry spends over $84 million in a single night on in-game commercials.

In short, the NFL acting like they care about this is nuts. Incredibly dumb, incredibly pointless stuff.

Also, it sounds like Juszczyk wasn’t even doing a beer celly. He says his nickname is Juice and he was pretending to drink juice:

Kyle Juszczyk on his fine:

"I don't know how else to say it. I wasn't drinking beer in my celebration. I think you guys all know my nickname is 'Juice.' I have juice on my pads. The stadium yells 'Juice' when I catch the ball. When I celebrate, I celebrate by drinking juice." pic.twitter.com/IJfkrnwQHr

— Ben Ross (@BenRossTweets) September 24, 2026

Apparently he’s been doing this his entire career.

Can’t make this stuff up… https://t.co/GPuZ81wYD5

— Kyle Juszczyk (@JuiceCheck44) September 24, 2026

Overall, great stuff from the NFL here. Excited to see how they piss everyone off next. Fine a player for getting emotional and crying during the national anthem. Fine a team for bringing out veterans in motorized carts before the game. It’ll be something like that. Can’t wait.