A handful of MLB teams, starting (of course) with the Brewers, have pushed back last call.
Detroit — The time of Major League Baseball games is down, way down.
And, thus, naturally, so are the concession sales — most notably, the sale of alcohol, which for years, for most teams, have been allowed through the end of the seventh inning. Well, now, the seventh inning is coming faster, meaning teams’ bottom line is threatening to going bottoms up, at least early in the season.
That’s why many major-league teams already are addressing their cutoff times, with several ballclubs — the first being, go figure, the Milwaukee Brewers — pushing last call to the end of the eighth inning, at least on an experimental basis.
“Obviously, the safety and the conduct of our fans have primacy,” Rick Schlesinger, president of business operations for the Brewers, told MLB.com earlier this month. “We’ve had no issues, but it’s a small sample size and we’re going to continue to test it and see if it makes sense.
“I know a number of other teams are doing the same thing.”
Among teams extending alcohol sales through at least the end of the eighth inning are the Arizona Diamondbacks, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers. The Houston Astros are extending sales at certain concession stands through the end of games. Many other teams are considering similar changes.
The Tigers, meanwhile, are not making any changes at Comerica Park, at least for now.
But the Tigers also would like to point out a little fact that perhaps not too many fans knew about: The Tigers have sold alcohol through the eighth inning for at least 20 years — but only at concourse concession stands. The walking vendors have stopped selling at the end of the seventh inning, as have the suites. None of that is expected to change with the Tigers and their concession operator, Delaware North.
Like the Tigers, the Baltimore Orioles have had longer alcohol cutoffs over the years — through the end of the eighth inning, or 3½ hours after first pitch, whichever happens to come first.
Major League Baseball does not have a strict policy on when alcohol sales should cease. Most teams over the years simply settled on the seventh inning, to help curb unruly fan behavior and drunken driving at game’s end.
In past years, teams still have made an average of $8 million per season on beer sales, based on some estimates, including from Statista. With games so much shorter, tens of millions could be stake throughout the league.
At least one major-league player has taken issue with teams pushing back alcohol cutoffs, as explained by Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast.
“Now with a faster-pace game — and me just being a man of common sense — if the game is going to finish quicker, would we not move the beer sales back to the sixth inning to give our fans time to sober up and drive home?” Strahm said on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast. “Instead, we’re going to the eighth, and now you’re putting our fans and our family at risk driving home with people who have just drank beers 22 minutes ago.”
MLB instituted a pitch clock this season, giving pitchers 15 seconds to deliver a pitch with nobody on base and 20 seconds with a runner on base. The results have been extreme: Through the first 10 days of the 2020 season, the time of games had decreased by more than a half-hour from 2022. The Tigers, through the first 14 games, already have played three games in under 2 hours, 30 minutes. They played 10 games all last season in under 2:30. The Tigers have played three games in over 3 hours, compared to 70 all of last season.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tonypaul1984
We’re offering a great rate on digital subscriptions. Click here.