Can you imagine the uproar, if sports stadiums in North America and in other parts of the world, banned alcohol from being purchased or consumed in any form ? I’ve never been much of a drinker anyway, although I do enjoy a beer or a glass of wine on occasion. If legislation of this type was passed, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it, and it certainly wouldn’t stop me from attending sporting events. In fact, I might be even more inclined to attend, knowing there was a good chance that I wouldn’t have to encounter or any obnoxious morons, who have no interest in controlling their consumption.
I have spoken to friends and media colleagues on this subject, and some of them have suggested, that the absence of alcohol would substantially hurt the revenue streams of the professional sports teams involved. I doubt that very much. More than likely, those same people would eventually consume other beverages and food as well. They would adapt to the circumstances, like most mature adults eventually do. Long before alcohol was flowing at sporting events in Toronto, some of the biggest sponsors and owners of professional sports teams in Canada, were companies like Labatt’s, Molson’s, and Carling O'Keefe. I recall attending Toronto Argonaut football games when alcohol was not served, with the games being sold out at Exhibition Stadium, at at time when the team was competitive, and much more popular than they are now, in terms or attendance. Of course, there were some fans who snuck bottles of booze into the stadium anyway, as security measures back then were minimal.
Prior to working in the media, I decided to stay away from Argonaut football games for many years, after a moronic fan threw an empty bottle of liquor which narrowly missed my head as I was walking towards the parking lot, after leaving an Argos game at Exhibition Stadium. This was at a time when drinking alcoholic beverages was forbidden at major sporting events. As was the case with this loser, there were individuals who would sneak in a bottle of their favorite beverage and hide it in a brown paper bag, which were never checked in those days. My friend and media colleague, Roger Lajoie, has told me about a similar experience he had at an NFL game a few years ago, where rude fans were making insulting remarks to females who were walking by in the parking lot, on their way to the game. There was no doubt, according to Roger, that these jerks were intoxicated.
I used to hear this same paranoia about a drop in attendance if alcohol sales were banned, being suggested when smoking in bars and restaurants was outlawed. In spite of the dire warnings, the vast majority of these businesses survived. Now, they are much healthier environments for everyone.
A recent study published in the Toronto Star by health writer Joseph Hall, brought to light the potential consequences of beer and wine sales at stadiums: “ Every time a Leaf, Blue Jays or Argonaut game ends in Toronto, it will disgorge about 1,600 legally drunk fans on to the city streets and roadways……….8% of fans are walking, or stumbling out of stadiums with blood alcohol levels of 0.08 per cent or greater. The survey, released last Tuesday by the journal, Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, was conducted at 16 NFL and Major League Baseball games and involves some 362 people……..Most stadiums typically allow fans to buy no more than two beers at a time in the concourse area and one from aisle vendors. Teams stop serving alcohol at the end of the seventh inning in baseball and the third quarter in football.”
In reality, it is highly unlikely that any ban on booze would ever take place in North America at sporting events. Even if it were commonly accepted as the wise thing to do, there are probably very few, if any, politicians who would be brave enough to risk losing some votes, by taking a tough stand on a legitimate issue of public safety like this. This is most unfortunate. Sometimes, it is much more important to do what is right, and not what is popular.