As younger consumers rethink their relationship with alcohol, retailers like SWADE Cannabis are betting cannabis can build its own place in sports culture, starting with the watch party.
When the FIFA World Cup arrived in Kansas City this summer, it brought the kind of energy the tournament always generates. Bars opened early, fans in matching scarves filled the sidewalks, and for several weeks, much of the metro planned its days around kickoff times.
SWADE Cannabis, the Missouri retailer owned by BeLeaf Medical Co., saw an opportunity in that energy. For years, operators across legal markets have been searching for ways to move cannabis beyond the retail transaction and into shared social experiences. On July 11, as the tournament reaches the quarterfinals, SWADE Cannabis is hosting a free, cannabis-friendly watch party at The Tree Room in Kansas City, complete with designated consumption areas and a room built for soccer fans.
“For decades, beverage brands have been a staple of sports culture, giving fans a way to gather, celebrate, and be part of the experience,” said Brandon Cavanagh, Senior Director of Marketing at SWADE Cannabis. “We believe cannabis deserves a place in that conversation, too.”
It is a meaningful claim, and the data behind it has grown stronger in recent years.
The Ground Is Already Shifting
The change begins with how people drink. Gen Z is consuming less alcohol than any generation in recent memory, and a significant share of those consumers are turning to cannabis and non-alcoholic alternatives instead. The shift has drawn attention from alcohol companies, which increasingly view cannabis as part of the broader competition for consumers’ leisure spending.
The substitution effect is measurable. In a University at Buffalo study, adults who began using cannabis beverages cut their weekly alcohol consumption roughly in half, from about seven drinks a week to a little over three. Researchers suggested a straightforward explanation: holding a cold can in a social setting feels much the same whether it contains beer or a THC seltzer. The ritual stays intact even as the contents change.
Attitudes are shifting alongside the behavior. In a recent consumer survey, nearly half of Americans said THC products should be as socially accepted as alcohol—a figure that climbs to roughly 60 percent among millennials and just over half among Gen Z. The same survey found that when asked to choose a single way to consume THC, more respondents reached for a beverage than for smoking, and many regular drinkers said they would happily swap a cocktail for a THC drink at a social occasion.
The shift, in other words, is less about the product than about the gathering, which is the part of sports culture that has always mattered most.
Cannabis Is Building Its Own Third Places
For much of legalization’s first decade, the industry was built around transactions. Customers walked in, purchased their products, and left, with the experience ending at the door.
That model is changing. Across the country, operators are designing spaces that invite people to stay. High Times recently profiled New Jersey’s Scarlet Reserve Room, a dispensary that grew out of a cigar lounge and now hosts patients for sporting events, comedy sets, and poetry nights in a relaxed, welcoming environment. In Manhattan, the team behind Torches converted a century-old cigar townhouse near Grand Central into a lounge, building the space in anticipation of New York’s evolving consumption rules.
These are not simply stores with seating. They represent a cannabis version of the corner bar—the “third place” between home and work where community forms. The model itself is hardly new. Pubs, breweries, and sports taverns were never just about what people consumed; they were about the relationships and routines built around those spaces.
Cannabis businesses are now trying to build comparable gathering places, and sports offer an obvious test case because the audience and occasion already exist.
Why the Games Make Sense
Sporting events offer a built-in reason to come together. Fans arrive, wear their colors, and share the highs and lows of a match with people they may have just met. The experience has always been as much about the company as the final score.
Retail data suggests that major sporting events already drive cannabis purchasing behavior. According to retail analytics firm Surfside, the Saturday before the Super Bowl is now the highest cannabis sales day of the year in the markets it tracks, running more than 60% above a typical day. Pre-rolls and THC beverages—among the formats most commonly associated with social occasions—see the sharpest increases, rising roughly 90% and 80%, respectively. High Times has tracked the Super Bowl sales bump for years, and Cannabis Industry Journal recently described the game as cannabis’s biggest retail moment of the year.
Kansas City has already seen signs of that connection. When the Chiefs won the title in 2023, during Missouri’s first week of adult-use sales, some local dispensaries reported dramatic spikes in business. The surge illustrated how closely cannabis consumption can align with major communal events. Whether that translates into demand for dedicated gathering spaces is what operators like SWADE Cannabis are now testing.
A World Cup Proof of Concept
That context helps explain why SWADE Cannabis chose the World Cup as a proving ground.
Rather than simply running a promotion, SWADE Cannabis created a free World Cup quarterfinal watch party at The Tree Room, designed around the experience of gathering rather than the sale itself. Designated consumption areas allow fans to take part comfortably and responsibly.
A retail component accompanies the event, including a limited World Cup product lineup featuring the Golden Goal Live Resin Bar and special releases of Lemon Royale, Jungle Cookies, and Permanent Marker. In addition, SWADE Cannabis is stoked to launch STÄSH, a new apparel brand with all the jerseys and scarves you need to get your game on. The product lineup is part of the event, but the larger emphasis is on creating a communal viewing experience rather than a traditional retail promotion.
“We’re excited to create a space where cannabis consumers can enjoy the tournament and show that cannabis can be part of the same shared traditions and celebrations that fans have enjoyed around sports for generations,” Kevin Riggs, CEO of BeLeaf Medical Co. said.
None of this is about replacing alcohol. Many fans will still open a beer at kickoff, and many will enjoy both. The larger shift may be less about what people consume than where they consume it. As legal markets mature, operators are increasingly experimenting with events, lounges, and communal experiences that place cannabis within familiar social rituals.
Whether those efforts become a lasting part of sports culture remains to be seen. For companies like SWADE Cannabis, the World Cup watch party is one attempt to find out.
Sponsored Content Disclaimer: This article was Updated as part of a paid commercial arrangement with SWADE Cannabis. It is not independent editorial content. References to products, services, cannabinoids, formulations, consumer use cases, or company claims reflect the company’s perspective unless otherwise noted and have not been independently verified by High Times.
