MILWAUKEE — Sports world, this Bud’s still for you.

Anheuser-Busch executives said yesterday that the beer maker will maintain its high level of sports marketing and sponsorship under new owner InBev. In fact, they said, spending could increase.

“There’s nothing at all for those of us that are at the pulse of all this to suggest that our sports are cutting back at all,” said Tony Ponturo, vice president of global media and sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch.

Sports marketing accounts for two-thirds of Anheuser-Busch’s overall marketing, but InBev’s reputation as a cost-cutter had raised speculation that the huge budget could get the ax, leaving many a drinker to wonder “Whassup?”

InBev SA, the maker of brands such as Stella Artois and Beck’s, solidified its $52-billion takeover of the St. Louis-based brewer earlier this week. The company has said it has plans to make Budweiser and Bud Light into worldwide icons like Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Carlos Brito, chief executive officer of the Belgian brewer, has said he knows that his new company’s ability to reach consumers through sports is one of the reasons it’s such an attractive brand, and added that there wouldn’t be cuts.

Ponturo and Dave Peacock, vice president for marketing, emphasized that yesterday and said spending could, in fact, go up. Of course, Anheuser-Busch had initially resisted the takeover, so now the company could be trying to show it can play ball with the new owners.

The beer maker will still maintain sponsorships, they said, adding that it’s signing new deals and extending contracts even this week. On Tuesday, one day after the deal was official, Ponturo said the company renewed a multi-year deal with the National Basketball Association. And yesterday, Anheuser-Busch said it has extended its exclusive malt beverage sponsorship with the U.S. Olympic Committee through 2012. The brewer’s sponsorship of the USOC goes back two decades.

Ratings for events such as this week’s Major League Baseball’s All-Star game are up, especially with men age 21 to 34, Ponturo said. So they’re not going to change what works.

“The beer consumer totally surrounds himself with sports. It’s emotional, there’s a connection. It’s local. It’s passionate,” he said.

Anheuser-Busch’s reach into the sports world is massive. It’s the official international beer sponsor of the upcoming Olympics and is sponsoring 25 countries’ teams. The company also has deals with teams for the National Football League, Major League Baseball, professional golf, and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, among others.

To many, Anheuser-Busch and its Budweiser and Bud Light brands are synonymous with sports. That’s because the image has been built heavily on marketing.

Think Super Bowl and images of Clydesdale horses and chants of “I love you, man” fill your head.

Ponturo declined to say exactly how much the company spends on marketing, but industry estimates are that Anheuser spent $378 million in the United States on marketing last year. That’s far above the nation’s second- and third-largest brewers, Miller Brewing Co. and Molson Coors Brewing Co., which began their own joint venture in the United States, MillerCoors LLC, this month.