The pitch clock is speeding up games by more than a half-hour this season over previous years, which is a problem for one subset of stadium employees: concessions vendors.
Because of that time crunch, four MLB teams have already decided that they would extend beer sales through the eighth inning, with Arizona, Milwaukee, Minnesota, and Texas keeping the suds flowing for an extra inning past the usual past cutoff – something the Orioles have been doing for years (either the eighth inning or 3 ½ hours after first pitch, whichever comes first).
The general idea was to give folks a little over two hours past first pitch to get a delicious Natty Boh or whatever their beverage of choice is, and now, Chris Russell is looking for the Nationals to get on this chuggin’ choo-choo.
“I can tell you this: knowing how hard up that franchise is for money right now, the Nationals would sell beer through the 12th inning if they were allowed to!” Chris Russell half-joked on Wednesday’s show.
The issue is, of course, that MLB teams also don’t want folks leaving the stadium intoxicated and getting behind the wheel, which is why producer Matt was surprised by the list of teams doing this.
“That’s what surprises me – I would’ve thought the teams extending beer sales would be in major cities that have a better public transportation system, like New York, Boston, or DC,” Matt chimed in. “Some of those places you can get to the ballpark and get home safely without driving.”
“See, this is a byproduct of the tempo change – they added one inning, so they’re extending the innings window, but the time to get to the eighth inning is quicker,” Russell shot back. “The consumption window has actually probably shortened, so by extending it through the eighth inning, it’s still worth it for these teams from a financial perspective.”
Russell echoed Darr’s fears about that leading to a quicker ninth inning and then still having drunk fans leaving the park to get behind the wheel – and thinks maybe MLB should look at game times and beer sales and set a hard limit like other sports have.
“Common sense would tell me that if you have an extra 30 minutes, you’re going to be 30 minutes drunker,” Russell said, “but in pursuit of the almighty dollar, as if you don’t make enough as it is on souvenirs and concessions and parking, we have to sell more beer. This is where MLB has to come in and say no chance – because the longer window you give to any person with alcohol, we don’t know who is doing is reasonably and responsibly.”
Follow Chris Russell on Twitter: @Russellmania621
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