The university's students will have to go off campus if they want to buy Pepsi.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- In the latest twist in a multimillion-dollar campus cola war, Rutgers University is dumping Pepsi and will once again sell and serve Coca-Cola when students return this fall.
A decade after dropping Coke in favor of Pepsi, the university has agreed to bring back Coke as the exclusive supplier of soft drinks and other beverages on its campuses, spokesman Greg Trevor said. The terms of the contract are being finalized and cannot yet be released, he said.
Beverage contracts are a major boon for colleges and universities who agree to sell products made by one company in exchange for millions in revenue. Rutgers first agreed to a 10-year, $10 million contract with Coke in 1994 before switching to Pepsi when it offered a decade-long, $17 million deal in 2005.
The money is especially valuable to Rutgers because it has great latitude to use it as it sees fit, including funding for scholarships, academic programs and commencement speakers.
The deals also come with extra perks; Pepsi made commemorative soda cans for Rutgers, including a limited-edition 250th anniversary can that debuted last year.
Though the Pepsi contract expired last summer, it was renewed for one year while the university weighed bids from both companies, Trevor said.
Rutgers began the process of switching brands in its dining halls and vending machines on July 1, he said.
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