There probably aren’t a lot of people like me that want to know about what happened to All Sport. I assumed it died a slow, painful death sometime in the past 20 years like Circuit City, CompUSA and those other defunct retailers that stocked the beverage next to the cash register alongside Dad’s Root Beer.
By the way, what was the deal with this? I went into a CompUSA store for a week straight in July 2005 hoping they had accidentally released NCAA Football 06 early (this is another story for another time). On my way out each day, I’d pass one of those fridges full of nothing but All Sport and Dad’s Root Beer. Were people buying this at CompUSA?
But let’s not get sidetracked by that. Back to the question at hand: What happened to All Sport? Somehow, someway it has managed to survive all these years. Sure, it’s not the same painfully sweet sports drink you remember from high school, but the beverage no one wanted is still alive today…sort of.
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What happened to All Sport?
The early years
Pepsi introduced All Sport in 1994 to compete with Coca-Cola who had unveiled Powerade. They were both lesser versions of Gatorade. Anyway, Pepsi went all out to promote All Sport during those early years, even locking down Shaquille O’Neal to an endorsement deal. That gave us this great commercial:
Our high school had an All Sport vending machine, although all it did was sit around and collect dust. No one wanted it with Mountain Dew also available. Pepsi spent millions upon millions of dollars trying to make the drink a thing before ultimately giving it up and selling it to The Monarch Beverage Company in 2001.
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Decline but not death
The Monarch Beverage Company would hold on to All Sport until 2007 making sure every CompUSA store in America was fully stocked with the stuff. The brand was then sold to Big Red which was purchased by Keurig Dr. Pepper before eventually finding its way to Jel Sert, a company best known as the makers of Otter Pods and Kool Aid knockoff Flavor Aid.
Sometime between 2011 and 2018 they stop making the liquid form of All Sport and instead focused on an instant powder.
Today
So, what happened to All Sport? Today it is sold as both mix-in powder and freezer pops. However, locating it can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. For reasons I don’t fully understand, it’s sold at hardware shops and stores selling industrial supplies. Try finding it near you. If All Sport is available, it will only be at some random place you would have never guessed.
That is what surprises me most about All Sport still existing. You would think it would turn up at 99 Cents Only or another bargain outlet. Every other Jel Sert product has seemingly found its way there. But not All Sport. From being endorsed by Shaq to sold at Fastenal, what a weird journey.
Celebrating the athletes All Sports has sponsored
As All Sport was slowly fading into obscurity during the late 2000s, they sponsored a collection of unimpressive sports figures that is awesome in its own right. They locked down then Dallas Mavericks center Erick Dampier around 2009. I’m sure that helped them move countless bottles of their awful sports drinks.
But nothing can beat All Sport agreeing to sponsor Jeremy Mayfield’s fledging NASCAR team in 2009. Their logos were all over his ride and uniform. It was great exposure until he got popped for using meth. The story was a big deal and every time Mayfield was mentioned on ESPN, All Sport’s logo was right there alongside him.
That was bad, but at least All Sport was still visible back then. It exists in 2021, although you’ll need a miracle to find it.
