Sometimes a cold beer can complete a nice day at a sporting event or when watching one on TV. While drinking has been a part of college football tailgates, it’s only been until recently that CFB stadiums are selling alcohol to try and raise revenue and attendance.

That being said, what happens when people maybe have too much to drink and what about the drinking habits of fans in other sports? Detox.net did a poll of 1,000 participants to figure out which type of fans are more likely to binge drink, whether they snuck alcohol into a sporting event and whether they are more likely to drink after their favorite team wins or loses.

When it comes to consuming drinks during sporting events, NFL and NHL (both 3.1 beers per game) fans are the only sports averaging over three drinks a game, which is getting close to the number of beers considered to be binge drinking. They also take the top two spots for fans who are more likely to binge drink.

What I found interesting was that soccer (2.2 beers per game) was last among the sports listed (which includes MMA). Because I know soccer fans can and do drink, my only explanation is that because there are no natural stoppages during a soccer game, people don’t drink as much during. Also, a soccer game is less than two hours total while an NFL game could take three and a half hours so that can also explain it.

The site also looked at the differences in drinking behavior when a fan’s favorite team wins or loses. Surprisingly, most seem to drink during happy times and their team wins rather than when they lose. Only pro (25%) and college football (19.7%) have a higher percentage of fans drinking after losses than wins (18.6% and 18.4% respectively). Soccer vaulted from 15.4% to 28.8% to take the top spot of people drinking when their team wins. One reason is as drinking is more acceptable in soccer supporter culture, the booze flows after a big win. They also note that men are more likely to drink after a loss than women while women are more likely to drink after a win than men.

But one of the more telling studies is the amount of people who have snuck alcohol into a sporting event. Detox.net found that 42.9% of Americans have snuck in alcohol and most did it during college football games. Of the reasons people had when sneaking in alcohol, either it was too expensive or they didn’t have the right kind of alcohol. Some gave a reason that they were too young to purchase alcohol, which is rather alarming.

While a beer or two is sometimes a great way to watch a sporting event, many take it too far. I don’t really see how it’s beneficial to drink so much that you forget you were at a sporting event that you likely paid hundreds of bucks to go to but sometimes that couldn’t be helped and the person has a problem. What the study shows is how we can sometimes be dependent on drinking too much and that can lead to problems. In moderation is great, binge drinking is another thing.

[Detox.net]

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.

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