Nowadays, there’s an alcohol cutoff. Whether it’d be last out in the bottom of the 7th inning, middle of the 8th, 2 hours after first pitch or whenever. The league for years now has imposed some sort of guidelines where a ballpark must have some sort cutoff time that would halt alcohol sales in an effort to give fans an opportunity to “sober up” before the game ends. This even includes if the fan takes their last sip of beer then immediately proceeds to walk out to his/her car (wow, so much for a cutoff time).
But nevertheless, this past weekend in the majors, there were four games that went at least 11 innings including the one right here in Milwaukee that went 18 innings on Saturday night! So does it seem right after you choose to sit there cheering your team on at the ballpark but knowing you will have to do it without that comforting swig of beer or whatever it is that you’ve enjoyed throughout the night? Especially if you gut it out until when the game ends!
An idea that could be considered, would be that with technology today, a scanning system could be used. Whether it’s the UPC code on your’ paper ticket or some sort of code using your’ smartphone (one or the other) that would allow for a one-time purchase of an alcoholic beverage in the event of extra innings. To make matters simple, and this would be a first for Drinks In The Seats, (We’d be ok) to allow this unique opportunity to be available from concession stands only since they are still open selling food and soft drinks during that time and the In-Seat Beer Vendors have stopped selling at cutoff time innings prior. Plus, most ballparks’ Beer Vendors do not have such types of equipment needed to scan barcodes that would function with this type of a special sale.
In order for this idea to even be considered, baseball would have to approve of it. The ball clubs’ administrations would have to go along with it. Plus, there are certain certifications that ballpark concessionaires adhere to which impose strict limits on alcohol service which include but are not limited to; number of drinks per valid ID, size of drinks, as well as cutoff times. So those such certifications would have to be reviewed and be reconsidered from the ground up.
While it seems like it would have to take moving a mountain to go back to the days of serving alcohol in the seats of a ballpark after regulation ends, just think that as stated above a fan can leave at anytime after taking their last sip of alcohol. It also would be nice to hang with your team until about 11:30pm on a Saturday night while still enjoying your favorite beverage.