Canned alcoholic beverages have been increasingly available at the baseball stadium in Milwaukee since the last decade. Where in the past, way in the past (like the old stadium), canned beer would be allowed but only from in-seat vendors and must be poured into a waxed/paper cup before being served to the fan.
Nowadays, canned alcohol at this ballpark just has to account for the vast majority of the drink sales and is available mainly from the in-seat vendors, cart vendors on the concourses and from “take a can” stands which have been around at the stadium for about five years now. It’s been found to be more convenient as fans are permitted to keep their can thus eliminating the pouring from the server, and cans must be opened while given to the fan at purchase.
So now with alcohol in aluminum cans being a high desired product at Milwaukee’s stadium, it has resulted in some identical drink products that are available for purchase from both the stadium in-seat beer vendors AND from the “take a can” stands on the concourses. The five main ones are:
- Domestic 16 ounce cans
- Miller Lite
- Coors Light
- Miller High Life
- Premium 16 ounce cans
- Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy
- Seltzer 16 ounce cans
- Vizzy Hard Seltzer
Vendor or stand, there are absolutely no physical differences between these above five varieties; example, a Coors Light purchased from a vendor is the same Coors Light that could be purchased from a “take a can” stand, etc.. As for the prices of where you get these respective drinks from, well, that’s where it can get a little perplexing. Let’s start with the vendors; in 2024, the listed prices of the drinks available from the Milwaukee stadium vendors (both “in-seat” & vendors who sell from carts on the concourses) are in the form of a round price button worn on the vendor’s shirt (that’s how vendors have been displaying the prices of the products they’ve been selling for decades now). The prices of the drinks available from the “take a can” stands are usually listed in one of two ways; either at the front of the particular shelf of that available variety for purchase, or the prices are listed on a sign within the vicinity of the stand.
The price buttons worn on the shirts of Milwaukee baseball stadium beer vendors include the 8.4% tax in the price of the drinks they sell. Again, vendors mean both the “in-seat” beer vendors and vendors who sell from carts on the concourses. This all means that the 2024 drink prices from these said workers are $11.99 for a domestic beer and $13.29 for a premium or seltzer drink as listed on the vendors’ price buttons*. So, with the vendors, the price you see, is indeed the price you pay!
When you go to the “take a can” stands on the concourses at Milwaukee’s baseball stadium, there are displayed prices at those stands that do not include the 8.4% tax in those displayed prices* incidentally, and they are $10.99 for those exact same domestic beers you can get from the vendors and $12.29 for the two everyday premium & seltzer drinks that are also made available from the vendors. If you compare the prices from those two sales outlets, it would look like you’re saving a dollar at the “take a can” stand, but you are indeed not. So, let’s now do the math;
16 ounce domestic beer from in-seat or cart vendors – $11.99 which includes 8.4% tax.
16 ounce domestic beer from “take a can” stands – $ 10.99 plus 8.4% tax would equal 92 cents added on making the total, $11.91. Savings of 8 cents!
16 ounce premium drink from in-seat or cart vendors – $13.29 which includes 8.4% tax.
16 ounce premium drink from “take a can” stands – $12.29 plus 8.4% tax would equal $1.03 added on making the total, $13.32. A price increase of 3 cents!
So there you have it! Fans who get their drinks from the “take a can” stands won’t get to see the tax being added on to their purchase until the time of purchase, that is, after they grab their desired can out of the glass door coolers there and by bringing it to the computer screen just feet away within the stand itself (where the tax is finally being shown to the customer) for purchase. It should also be known, there are other drinks available at those particular stands that are not available from vendors. In addition to the above mentioned drink products, vendors carry long island ice tea and new daiquiri products while other stands throughout Milwaukee’s baseball stadium carry varieties of other drinks.
So, how did we get up to this 8.4% tax anyway? Wasn’t the buzz this year was that the Milwaukee sales tax is 7.9% effective the start of 2024? Well. a lot has to be explained; true, the price of sales & use tax on a purchase in Milwaukee, WI is now at 7.9%# & up from the 5.5% that was last year. The City of Milwaukee raised their tax 2% and Milwaukee County raised their tax 0.4% that went into effect on 1/1/24. Without getting too much in to detail, these tax increases were a result of a shared revenue agreement that was created by the Wisconsin state legislature in summer of 2023. Now, to bring this total to 8.4% as pointed out above, there is a 0.5% Milwaukee County Exposition Tax that actually goes back to 1994 when the current Milwaukee convention center, then known as the “Midwest Express (airlines) Center” was created. The tax works like this, if a sale of alcoholic beverages is for consumption on the seller’s premises in Milwaukee County, it is subject to the 0.5% food and beverage tax. This said tax also applies to soft drinks, prepared food and candy within the limits of Milwaukee County.
It is hoped that this article sheds some much needed light on what you pay when you decide to purchase & consume alcohol in Milwaukee’s baseball stadium.
*Barring any would be special/limited time prices. #Some exceptions apply