Sporting Arenas Shouldn’t Be Free From Drinking Common Sense

Drinking has often been a part of professional sports watching. It’s fun to see all of the different bars that are at the new Target Field, abeautiful place that every baseball fan should see. But, there is some recent research that suggests there may be too much drinking going on.

In a study that will be published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, investigators from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, conducted blood alcohol content (BAC) tests on 362 adults at 13 professional baseball games and three football games between May and October 2006. They found that 8.4 percent of the subjects had a BAC higher than the legal limit of .08

8.4 might not sound like a lot, but look at it this way, as The Maine Sunday Telegram suggested:

There are 100 stadiums in the United States that schedule 5,000 games each year attended by more than 130 million fans, according to a report Wednesday in the journal Alcoholism. The New Meadowlands stadium, where the New York Giants football team plays, has a capacity of 82,500. If this study holds, about 6,600 people, or 8 percent, leave drunk after watching a game.

Other results from the study:

• Fans under 35 years of age have nine times greater odds of having BAC levels above the limit of .08.
• Those who drink at tailgating parties have 14 times greater odds of being legally drunk, compared to fans who had not tailgated.
• Nearly one in four attendees who tailgated reported consuming five or more alcoholic beverages while tailgating.
• Those who were in the highest BAC category reported consuming, on average, 6.6 drinks while tailgating compared with 3.7 drinks and 2.8 drinks for those in the mid-range BAC category and the zero BAC category, respectively.
• Night game attendees had higher odds of having a mid-range BAC (not above the legal limit), but they were not significantly more likely to have a BAC above the legal limit.

All of us don’t have horses to get us home. (Note as Volokh Conspiracy points out this still is illegal in some states.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnYtY9wfvvc

This is an interesting campaign by the state of Montana called "Plan To Live". Hopefully, all fans want to be around to see another game.