2016 was a long season for the 5-7 Texas Longhorns. It started with promise with a 50-47 win over Notre Dame under Charlie Strong and ended with Tom Herman taking over a program that lost to Kansas in their second to last game of the season. Throughout the run, Texas fans had to console themselves somehow and it seems like they often went to alcohol.
Texas went 4-2 at home and during those games at Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium, alcohol sales rose more than 70 percent compared to 2015. As a result, the Longhorns generated an incredible $3.1 million in revenue from beer, wine, and liquor.
More specifically, Texas brought in $2.8 million through beer, $128,321 from wine, and an additional $141,632 in liquor. For comparison, Ohio State fans bought $1 million worth of just BEER at home games in Columbus this season.
“Concessions are a big part of the fan experience at Texas athletics events,” UT associate athletic director Rebecca Haden said. “Our fans have enjoyed the addition of beer and wine to the menu as shown by the outstanding numbers from this football season.”
These numbers aren’t 100% final as of now, but Haden said they are preliminary results. On top of the increase in alcohol, Haden said the Longhorns also saw a decrease in alcohol-related incidents.
“This is a credit to our great fans as well as the mandatory alcohol training that all working staff must complete,” she said.
The $3.1 million in 2016 is $1.3 million more than the $1.8 million in alcohol Texas generated in 2015. However, 2015 was also the first year that beer and wine were sold at all public concession stands, so 2015 may have been slow for that reason. Before 2015, alcohol was only available in private clubs and suites.
The $3.1 million in revenue isn’t the only interesting number. There’s also a lot of info about what beers Texas fans liked and didn’t like.
Miller Lite was the most popular with 98,535 cans sold during the 2016 season, compared to 62,275 cans in 2015. Coors Light finished second closely behind Miller with 95,096 cans sold in 2016. Revenue wise, Miller Lite brought in $788,280 compared to $761,168 from Coors Light.
Bud Light and Budweiser didn’t do as well. 34,257 Bud Lights were sold during the 2016 season, which is still a good amount. But what about Budweiser? Well, only 89 were sold all season. 89! Some bars around the country probably serve more than 89 Budweisers a night!
Unsurprisingly, the game that saw the most alcohol sold was the double overtime season opener against Notre Dame when Texas brought in $701,234 in alcohol sales.
At the end of the day, now we can understand how Texas fans dealt with their rough 2016 season.
All I want for Christmas is…
for my liver to keep up with my alcohol consumption over the next two weeks. 🍺🥂🍾🥃🍷
— Only In Texas (@OnlyInTexas1) December 20, 2016
