Teams have been preparing their game plans and it's time to see which of the 60 teams will win. No, not the Packers or Steelers -- Go Pack! -- but PepsiCo (PEP), Anheuser-Busch (BUD), General Motors (GM) and all the other companies competing for the best spots in one of TV's most expensive marketing moments, costing an estimated $3 million dollars per 30 second spot.

For those not into football, the ads in the Super Bowl game can be more amusing than the game itself as advertising teams compete for attention, show their best efforts and even get rated by numerous online sites. Last year, Doritos (owned by PepsiCo), and E-Trade (ETFC) did well, and Anheuser-Busch seems to always have a Clydesdale horse in the running.

So, I am not much of a soccer fan. I far prefer football to soccer (you know, having played and coached football). That said, I was sucked into the World Cup thanks to national pride. I watched the U.S. lose to Ghana and beat Algeria; but I also watched the referee blow a call against Slovenia, forcing the game into a tie.

I said, I am not a huge soccer fan; but it sure seems that this World Cup is fraught with refereeing problems.

In the business world, there's rarely a thing as growing too big. But unfortunately for Sam Adams brewer Boston Beer (SAM), the price of success could be higher costs and the loss of its label as an "artisan" craft beer.

That's not to say a cold bottle of Sam Adams Summer Ale will taste any different to consumers. But according to the Brewers Association, "artisan" brewers include small outfits that put out less than two million barrels of suds a year. That means the brewer that almost single-handedly sparked interest in smaller batch brews with more flavor could be pushed into the same category as the big beer vendors like Anheuser Buch Inbev (BUD) and Molson Coors (TAP).

A couple of days ago, my colleague Jeff Reeves took a look at 7-Eleven's decision to enter into the beer game. Yes, 7-Eleven -- the sultan of Slurpees, the high priest of week-old hot dogs, the convenience king -- is going to throw its proverbial hat in the ring, looking for your beer bucks.

I did not know this, but 7-Eleven is the third-largest beer retailer in the United States. Perhaps my ignorance is born from the fact that there are no 7-Elevens in my hometown.

Though by some estimates, consumer spending has topped its 2008 peak (really!) there is no denying that many businesses are still offering rock-bottom prices to lure shoppers out of their shells. You can now add convenience store chain 7-Eleven to the list.

The company just announced that it will be offering a lower-priced private label beer in an effort to connect with Americans looking for a cold brew this summer. The label is called "Game Day," and will be produced by City Brewing of Wisconsin -- a facility that joined up with Boston Beer (SAM) in 2007 to craft its flagship Sam Adams lager.

Who's ready for some football? The Super Bowl is this weekend, and you know what that means -- commercials that we will all be talking about on Monday morning. In fact, we all know someone who says they watch the game for the commercials.

CBS announced earlier this week that it sold out all the in-game spots, but a few pre- and post-game spots remained. How much money did this make for CBS (CBS)? Roughly $200 million, and that is a low-end estimate. We all know why advertisers flock to the Super Bowl, as more than 98.7 million viewers tuned in last year. No matter who is in the Super Bowl, people watch the game and the commercials -- and eventually they may buy the products from the ads.

Despite the media slump that's been running alongside the worldwide recession, CBS (CBS) isn't having any trouble moving ad space for the Super Bowl.

The event is still more than a month from now, but the network reports having only a few commercial slots left for the big game. In fact, 95% of its 62 slots have moved, even with two of the most committed Super Bowl advertisers -- Pepsi (PEP) and General Motors (GRM) -- bowing out of the action. The first half is already sold out completely.

First brewed in 1873, Beck's beer is crisp, fresh, and "full of character." It's also still part of the growing AB InBev family. Anheuser-Busch InBev, which is of course the Belgian-based parent of Anheuser-Busch (BUD), has abandoned plans to sell the German beer brand to Bain Capital.

According to a German magazine, citing financial sources, this was really an eleventh-hour decision, as the contracts were already drawn up and Bain had secured $2.54 billion in financing.

I saw a story in The Wall Street Journal last week discussing what is being called a "rare" slump for Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company saw volume sales fall for Bud Light for the first time in the beer's 27-year history. Dollar sales of Bud Light dropped 2.5% (compared to a year earlier) in the U.S. during the 13 weeks that ended on July 12. Volume sales were 5.5% lower.

So, what can Bud do to rev up sales? How about a new advertising campaign with more than 15 new television commercials and new retail displays. When the American football season begins, the new ads will inundate our television screens and it will further the beer's "Drinkability" campaign that began a year ago.

Who knew that the fate of world beer would one day be in the hands of the beer faithful in Rochester, New York? The tastes of this blue-collar town, along with neighbors Syracuse and Buffalo, are key in the pending acquisition of Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) by Belgian giant InBev, SA. The three cities make up half of the U.S. consumption of Labatt Blue and Labatt Blue Light. Due to the popularity of Labatt brews and Budweiser brands in upstate New York, the U.S. Justice Department worries that beer prices might rise in Rochester.

So, if the acquisition is to be approved, giving Europeans control over America's iconic beer brands, InBev is being asked to sell the Labatt USA subsidiary. Other major InBev brands, including Stella Artois, Becks, and Bass, are not considered competitive enough in any markets to reduce competition between beers and provide upward pressure on prices.

Nope, it all comes down to Rochester and its surprisingly European tastes. Who would have thought?

The stock market was down yesterday and it is down again today. Bearish sentiment is roaming through Wall Street right now, so I thought I would look back on another occasion when the market was going through similar turmoil and I wrote about the following eight stocks, which I thought would be "safe havens" in such a storm.

Six of the eight did well and two did not, and of course one of those two was a disaster. Among the losers, I do not think anyone is fretting about UPS, which is still one of the few triple-A rated companies along with Berkshire Hathaway. It has been well reported that the slowing economy and higher fuel prices have been the major culprits affecting UPS's earnings. In the case of WaMu, it's demise has also been well reported, but at the time I recommended it WaMu had a stellar reputation of growth and high yield for over two decades. There is no hiding, it turned out to be a lousy pick and an ANTI-SAFE Haven

NOT SAFE:

United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) closed Monday at $65.30 down from $78.40; a 16.71% loss

Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) closed Monday at $4.21 down from $45.50; a 98% loss.

Fortunately the remaining six picks have done very, very well. If you had bought the pool, the average gain over the last two years would have been 7.14%. Adding the dividends over the two years would have raised this to 13.14%.

For hungry Wall Street investment bankers, the $45 billion merger of InBev and Anheuser-Busch Cos. (NASDAQ: BUD) is a nice relief. Yes, it means lots of juicy fees.

Another big winner is Busch IV (the CEO of Anheuser). Apparently, he is negotiating a consulting agreement that may exceed $10 million (there will be a $120,000 monthly retainer through December 31, 2013).

But according to a piece in Reuters, the transaction may have a dark side. Simply put, it hasn't been easy to raise the debt financing. As a result, this may crowd out some of the financing of other M&A deals.

The high rates on the InBev financing is likely to push up other debt costs on other pending transactions. What's more, there will be a flood of bond issuances on the market, which will put further pressure on the debt markets.

In other words, we may see a slowdown in M&A activity for the rest of the year -- except for those buyers that have substantial balance sheets.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

New data from Dealogic shows that July was the fifth straight month of growth in U.S. mergers and acquisitions activity -- and the highest total since a year ago.

But it's not quite as good as it looks. The data is skewed upward by foreign bids for American companies like Genentech (NYSE: DNA) and Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) and, according to the Associated Press, "the rise in M&A ... more likely reflects foreign companies taking advantage of the weak dollar than it does a loosening of credit."

But from an investors' perspective, the cause of the increase probably doesn't really matter. Deep value investors like Mohnish Pabrai have been struggling to post strong returns of late, in part because the private equity funds that could be relied on to buy undervalued companies a couple years ago have brought their U.S.-based activity to a hault.

But now the foreign companies and sovereign wealth funds are in the game and, from an investors' perspective, that's just as good -- whoever will buy undervalued public companies at a premium will boost returns. The low price-book, low price/earnings, contrarian investment strategies that haven't worked lately could be ready to start working again, just as they have historically.

This post is part of a series on celebrity spokespeople who ended up doing serious harm to the brands they were hired to promote, or vice versa. See how we rank the 20 top spokesperson fiascos.

In 1987, Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD) was featuring renown musicians such as Stevie Winwood and Phil Collins in a "The Night Belongs to Michelob" ad campaign. I'm sure the ad hacks in charge thought they'd had a stroke of genius when they conceived of using Eric "Slowhand" Clapton, performing his hit "After Midnight", as part of the series. 1 a.m., guitar god, and Michelob; seems like a natural, right?

I can't help but think that someone should have checked on Clapton's habits before launching the ad. Having fought well-publicized heroin addiction and a taste for cocaine, Clapton revealed to Rolling Stone that at the time of the ad's release he was in a detox facility. Battling alcoholism. His nights belonged to imaginary snakes rather than dirty-dancing runway models.

My suggestion? I'd steer clear of junkies as spokespersons, unless I was selling needles, smack or size 0 dresses. The image of spokespeople puking their guts out doesn't make me yearn for a beer.

Read the entire series

We have posted numerous articles about the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) by InBev (NV) and it now looks like the deal has been done at a price of $70 per share. However, what made this deal work for InBev might have been that the dollar has fallen so far.

The exchange rate between the dollar and Euro gives InBev a 30% to 35% discount making the acquisition price seem like a great deal for BUD shareholders but an even better one for InBev shareholders. And if the the currency exchange rates shift back over time then all the shareholders win.

This means that Americans will be answering to the Dutch Belgians. If the dollar had gained against the Euro instead of becoming weaker is it possible that Anheuser-Busch (BUD) would have bought out InBev (NV)? If the dollar stays down or drifts lower as seems likely right now look for more M&A activity from abroad.

In the mean time, since 'my pal Warren', is the largest shareholder of BUD through Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) and supports the deal, will he remain a shareholder of the new company? No doubt this increases the value of Berkshire, but does this set the stage for Buffett to enter the European market in a big way?

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I own shares of BRK.B.