11/05/24
June 18, 2003
Beer and sports, so happy together.: (via Off Wing Opinion)
posted by Mookieproof to culture at 01:48 PM - 3 comments
A reporter once described slugger Hack Wilson as "Built like a beer keg, and not all that unfamiliar with its contents." I used to work for Redhook Brewery back in the fledgling days of the Microbrew renaissance . This was 1992 to 1998 or so. An opportunity came up for Redhook to get their beer into the stadium (I believe it started with Key Arena, then the Kingdome, then Safeco). The stadiums are notorious on absolutely beating vendors up on price, then making other additional demands. We were required to buy a suite at the Key for at least 20 games or something. No beer manufacturer really makes money at these venues when you factor in the below-market price and the quid-pro-quo purchasing "arrangements" (which seems to me to be of dubious legality). Anyway...if it steams you to think about how much money the team or facility is charging you for that 12 ounce beer, then this fact won't help you. They're paying anywhere from 25% to 50% less on the keg than a regular bar would. Do a little math. A standard 15.5 gallon keg will pour about 120 16 oz cups. A keg of Redhook was going to the Key for about $48 or so. Fucking license to print money.
posted by vito90 at 03:41 PM on June 18, 2003
Way back in pre-history, or at least in the late '70s before I had a weblog (boy would that have been interesting), I worked for Harry Stevens at Giants Stadium. In those days beers were 90 cents a piece and the guys who got to sell it would pretty much kill to keep their plum. Because the rule of thumb was the 10 cents change was always given as a tip. So where I was lucky to make $15-18 an event (working in the back room getting the trays of drink and food prepped), they made $150-200. Damn drinkers!
posted by billsaysthis at 05:20 PM on June 18, 2003
In the halcyon days of baseball yore, slugger-cum-chugger Babe Ruth was said to favor a tavern located across the street from Chicago's old Comiskey Park. Heh heh. You said "cum-chugger".