Bar promotion gone bad in Iowa

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#2Gopher

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One Iowa establishment is probably regretting their Saturday promo for the Iowa-Michigan game.

Iowa and Michigan clashed in the Big Ten Championship Game held Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind.

An X-Golf branch in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, launched a promo Friday offering draft beer at no charge up until the Hawkeyes scored or the game ended.

As luck would have it, the Wolverines defense held the Hawkeyes scoreless 26-0 to win the Big Ten title and a likely spot in the College Football Playoff.

The nearly three-hour window of free-flowing beer probably did a number on both the X-Golf branch’s profits and the players who had an unlimited supply of free booze.
 



#2Gopher said:
One Iowa establishment is probably regretting their Saturday promo for the Iowa-Michigan game.

Iowa and Michigan clashed in the Big Ten Championship Game held Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind.

An X-Golf branch in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, launched a promo Friday offering draft beer at no charge up until the Hawkeyes scored or the game ended.

As luck would have it, the Wolverines defense held the Hawkeyes scoreless 26-0 to win the Big Ten title and a likely spot in the College Football Playoff.

The nearly three-hour window of free-flowing beer probably did a number on both the X-Golf branch’s profits and the players who had an unlimited supply of free booze.
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Maybe it was just cheaper than cleaning the taps. So they had the tools do it.
 

Free mulligans are a beautiful thing.
 



Obviously never watched a game this year, unless they had Brian F. underwrite.
 

in terms of promotions, it's hard to top 10-cent Beer Night held by the Cleveland Indians on June 4, 1974. Cups of beer were sold for a dime, with a limit of six beers per purchase - but no limit on the number of times you could go back for more.

Wikipedia tells us the rest:

As the game proceeded, on-field incidents and massive alcohol consumption further agitated the audience, many of whom threw lit firecrackers, streaked across the playing field, and openly smoked marijuana. Most sober fans departed early, leaving an increasingly drunk and unruly mob behind. Continued degradation of the game culminated in a riot in the ninth inning when fans rushed the field. Players were forced to protect themselves with bats while retreating from the field. Chief umpire Nestor Chylak declared the game to be forfeited in Texas's favor due to the mob's uncontrollable behavior.

Cleveland general manager Phil Seghi blamed the umpires for losing control of the game. The Sporting News wrote that "Seghi's perspective might have been different had he been in Chylak's shoes, in the midst of knife-wielding, bottle-throwing, chair-tossing, fist-swinging drunks".[14] American League president Lee MacPhail commented, "There was no question that beer played a part in the riot."[12]
 

Congrats on getting your tails kicked and looking terrible Iowa
 




short ornery norwegian said:
in terms of promotions, it's hard to top 10-cent Beer Night held by the Cleveland Indians on June 4, 1974. Cups of beer were sold for a dime, with a limit of six beers per purchase - but no limit on the number of times you could go back for more.

Wikipedia tells us the rest:

As the game proceeded, on-field incidents and massive alcohol consumption further agitated the audience, many of whom threw lit firecrackers, streaked across the playing field, and openly smoked marijuana. Most sober fans departed early, leaving an increasingly drunk and unruly mob behind. Continued degradation of the game culminated in a riot in the ninth inning when fans rushed the field. Players were forced to protect themselves with bats while retreating from the field. Chief umpire Nestor Chylak declared the game to be forfeited in Texas's favor due to the mob's uncontrollable behavior.

Cleveland general manager Phil Seghi blamed the umpires for losing control of the game. The Sporting News wrote that "Seghi's perspective might have been different had he been in Chylak's shoes, in the midst of knife-wielding, bottle-throwing, chair-tossing, fist-swinging drunks".[14] American League president Lee MacPhail commented, "There was no question that beer played a part in the riot."[12]
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Absolutely bonkers. But, can’t buy this kind of publicity. I wonder what kind of chaos ensued at the golf course?


NBC newscaster Tim Russert, then a student at the Cleveland–Marshall College of Law, attended the game. "I went with $2 in my pocket," recalled the Meet the Press host. "You do the math."[17]

As sportswriter Paul Jackson described in a 2008 article on the event:

Early on, the demand for beer surpassed the Indians' capacity to ferry it to concession stands, and a luminary, perhaps the same person who suggested the promotion in the first place, decided to allow fans to line up behind the outfield fences and have their cups filled directly from Stroh's company trucks. The promotion achieved critical mass at that moment, as weaving, hooting queues of people refilled via industrial spigot.
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Pompous Elitist said:
Absolutely bonkers. But, can’t buy this kind of publicity. I wonder what kind of chaos ensued at the golf course?


NBC newscaster Tim Russert, then a student at the Cleveland–Marshall College of Law, attended the game. "I went with $2 in my pocket," recalled the Meet the Press host. "You do the math."[17]

As sportswriter Paul Jackson described in a 2008 article on the event:

l




Click to expand...
That was a tough era for Cleveland. Their river had the bad habit of catching on fire. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...ozen-times-no-one-cared-until-1969-180972444/
 

#2Gopher said:
One Iowa establishment is probably regretting their Saturday promo for the Iowa-Michigan game.

Iowa and Michigan clashed in the Big Ten Championship Game held Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind.

An X-Golf branch in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, launched a promo Friday offering draft beer at no charge up until the Hawkeyes scored or the game ended.

As luck would have it, the Wolverines defense held the Hawkeyes scoreless 26-0 to win the Big Ten title and a likely spot in the College Football Playoff.

The nearly three-hour window of free-flowing beer probably did a number on both the X-Golf branch’s profits and the players who had an unlimited supply of free booze.
Click to expand...

I bet the X-Golf made lots of money that night selling pizza, chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, sandwiches and had all of their high priced golf bays at 100% full capacity on a Saturday night they otherwise would not have. Draft beer is cheap. Genius promotion.
 





Cleveland fans are…passionate. Fast forward to about the 9:00 mark







 

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