Four MLB teams extend beer sales to eighth inning

Baseball

Published 15.04.2023

Four MLB teams extend beer sales to eighth inning

PHOENIX — Thanks to the pitch clock, the motion is transferring a lot sooner at Major League Baseball video games.

It additionally means rather less time for followers to get pleasure from a frosty grownup beverage.

To fight that point crunch, a minimum of 4 groups — the Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers — have prolonged alcohol gross sales via the eighth inning this season. Others, just like the Miami Marlins and New York Mets, nonetheless have seventh-inning cutoffs, however haven’t dominated out adjustments.

“Totally makes sense to me,” mentioned Tom Lienhardt, who was sipping on a beer Tuesday night time earlier than the Brewers-Diamondbacks sport at Chase Field. “Since the games are shorter, you’ve got to adjust.”

Teams traditionally have stopped promoting alcohol after the seventh.

At least one workforce, the Baltimore Orioles, already offered alcohol via the eighth inning, or till 3 1/2 hours after first pitch, whichever got here first.

MLB video games have been significantly shorter this season, largely because of a sequence of rule adjustments, notably the brand new pitch clock. Through the primary 1 1/2 weeks of the season, the typical sport time was down 31 minutes, on observe to be the game’s lowest since 1984.

The minor leagues performed with the pitch clock final season. At least one minor league common supervisor — Kevin Mahoney of the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones — mentioned there was no dropoff in concession gross sales even with shorter video games.

Still, some massive league groups have felt the necessity to make changes.

The Rangers allowed some alcohol gross sales within the eighth inning final season, however have made that possibility extra extensively obtainable in 2023. The workforce mentioned the transfer to supply in-seat service to everybody — followers can order on their telephones — was executed partly in response to the pitch clock and the potential of shorter sport occasions so followers wouldn’t need to miss prolonged motion ready in traces at concession stands.

Brewers President of business operations Rick Schlesinger confirmed to MLB.com that their workforce’s transfer to increase alcohol gross sales via the eighth was an experiment.

“If it turns out that this is causing an issue or we feel that it might cause an issue, then we’ll revert to what we have done previously,” Schlesinger mentioned.

MLB says it doesn’t regulate when groups promote alcohol. Most franchises have used the seventh inning as a cutoff, a minimum of partly to keep away from overserving clients who might then get of their automobiles and drive dwelling.

But in actuality, most groups already had areas across the ballpark the place followers might get alcohol after the seventh, even when the concession stands stopped serving. Many parks are related to eating places or have VIP areas the place the booze nonetheless flows.

“If it cuts off sales in the seventh inning, the eighth inning or the ninth inning, that really doesn’t affect our stance because regardless, we just don’t want people to drink alcohol and then drive home from the game,” mentioned Erin Payton, Regional Executive Director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.