Almost one in 10 sports fans has a blood alcohol content above the legal limit as they exit the stadium after football and baseball games, a study found.
There are 100 stadiums in the U.S. that schedule 5,000 games each year attended by more than 130 million fans, according to a report today in the journal Alcoholism. The New Meadowlands stadium, where the New York Giants football team plays, has a capacity of 82,500. If this study holds, about 6,600 people, or 8 percent, leave drunk after watching a game.
I’m surprised the number is that low. Although how much money do you have to spend to get smashed on $6/glass cheap beer?
It matters a huge amount at what stadium the research was done. The only one mentioned is one in NYC. If the vast majority of the spectators are taking the subway or taking taxis, I’m not sure what the big deal is. So people want to go to a ball game and get a nice buzz with friends? Why should I be pulling a long face about this, as long as they aren’t driving home?
And by the way, crossing the legal limit on a breathalyzer doesn’t make you “drunk” (which conjures the image of somebody staggering around with a lampshade on his head). It just means your reaction time is impaired enough that you shouldn’t drive.
Until the researchers disclose where they did their research, this strikes me as much ado about nothing.
For me the fascinating thing about sports is the imputed righteousness so prevalent amongst fans. They wear jackets, imitation uniforms, and all manner of paraphenalia to associate themselves with “their” team, and (somehow) to put on the team’s presumed greatness.
As Christians, however, we are to put on the righteousness of Christ because as individuals we are so flawed. I’m not saying Christians should not enjoy sports, root for a team, or even leave the stadium two-sheets to the wind.
Nevertheless, the phenomenon is an interesting one, commonly found as well in name-brand clothing. In my own field of agriculture I see it all the time with farmers wearing caps and (often) jackets of the tractor company or even their seed-corn company.
Yet the same enthusiasm applied to Christ is viewed as weird, weak-minded, and even a bit sick. Fascinating.
My impression of a Bills game I attended in Buffalo last year was that five or ten per cent of the spectators were seriously hammered before they entered the stadium, thanks to the ample provision for tailgate parties.
No 4.,
That’s largely my impression of sports these days as well. The tailgate parties before and after are the real hooch hounds.
#4, that is in keeping with what used to happen around 40 years ago when my sister was a theater usher. In those days, the Indy 500 was on “closed circuit” TV broadcast in theaters. She was amazed that so many (and it was many) men would *arrive* drunk for the event. It’s likely that one must be somehow anesthetized to watch cars drive in circles for several hours, but it was always a surprise to the theater staff.
I’m surprised that more has not been written about this. I often hear stories from heads of families who take their children to ball games, only to expose them to vile obscenities and other forms of drunken behavior – to say nothing of the vomiting in the lavatories and outside the stadium.
No. 7,
That happened to me last year. Luckily, I was by myself at the new Twins stadium in Minneapolis. Talk about your drunken yahoos yelling things not fit for any ears under the age of 200. I even asked the ushers to do something about it, and the usher blew me off and walked away. It honestly made me never want to take my young daughter to a major league baseball game (and I’m a big baseball fan).
Luckily I had a great experience later that season at the Milwaukee stadium. Much more family friendly there. I would take my daughter there, though sadly, that’s much farther away.
Lawyers must be all over this already….so I wonder how much of the astronomical ticket/food/beer prices at sporting events these days are paying for the team’s liability insurance?