How Many Beers Are Sold At A Baseball Game?

Baseball and beer, two of the favorite American pastimes, have been inseparable for more than a hundred years.

Hardly anything pairs up with baseball as well as beer, particularly on a warm summer day.

They’re a matchup made in heaven, especially in more recent times. In the late 19th century, teams could get kicked out of the league for selling beer.

However, nowadays, brewsky is everpresent. Most ballparks feature an extensive offer of various beer brands.

TV broadcasts feature beer ads with almost every pitch and no less than three fields carry the name of a brewery.

So, it’s not surprising that an absurd amount of beer is sold at ballparks every year. Below, I’ll look more closely into how many beers are sold at a baseball game.

I’ll also explore who sells and who drinks the most, as well as how the beer business at baseball fields work.

So, let’s dive into it!

How Many Beers are Sold at a Baseball Game?

Beer mug and baseball ball with baseball field in background.
Beer and Baseball by slgckgc (CC BY 2.0)

The amount of beer sold at a baseball game depends on many factors.

Not all stadiums have the same attendance, nor do all the fans are able to drink the same amount of beer.

Beer consumption also depends on the season of the year. During hot summer days, the number of beers sold, logically, increases.

There’s also the matter of price, as stadiums with cheaper beer usually sell more, as expected.

While there are no exact numbers, the estimated amount of beers sold at the MLB ballparks per year is around 14.6 million.

This means that, with 2,430 games played during the season, the average number of beers sold at a game is a bit over 6,000.

This amounts to an absurd 1.2 million gallons of beer fans drink every year. To get the idea of how big that amount is, all that beer would fill out 1.7 Olympic-sized pools.

Which Baseball Stadium Sells the Most Beer?

Beer can and baseball glove in the grass.

Determining which baseball stadium sells the most beer is not easy, as not all fans drink the same.

It would be logical to assume that most beers are sold at the Dodger Stadium in LA as it is the ball bark with the greatest attendance in the MLB.

However, the fans of the Dodgers are fourth from the bottom when it comes to the average number of beers drank at a single game.

The stadium that most likely sells the most beers is the Truist Park.

The Braves rank second in attendance in the whole league with almost 30 thousand people at every game, while their fans are also second in the number of beers per single game with 4.0.

However, these numbers don’t take into account beers drank before the game, and while tailgating. Knowing their fanbases, the most likely winners here are Philly and Chicago teams.

Which MLB Stadium has the Most Expensive Beer and Which one the Cheapest Beer?

The most expensive beer in the MLB is at Fenway Park. The Red Sox fans can get a 12 oz. beer for $7.57. That’s 65 cents per ounce, which is rather steep.

The cheapest beer is at the games of Arizona Diamondbacks and Cleveland Indians. There, you can get a beer for only $4.00.

The average price in the MLB is at $5.97. That’s for a 15-ounce pour.

Hey, baseball might be getting things right. That price is down from the previous year.

Which Baseball Fans Drink the Most Beer?

Bottles of beer on ice with baseball equipment in the background.

Drinking beer both pre-game and during the nine innings is, for many fans a crucial part of the gameday experience.

But, not all the fans are heavy drinkers.

Recently, NJOnlineGambling.com conducted a survey to check out which baseball fans drink the most.

Perhaps surprisingly, the top of the list belongs to the fans of the traditionally second team from the Windy City, Chicago White Sox.

Fans at the Guaranteed Rate Field drink 4.2 drinks on average during a single game. Of course, not all drinks are beers, but certainly, the great majority is.

This means that White Sox fans spend an average of $46 on alcohol for just one game.

The White Sox fans are followed by Braves fans with 4.0 drinks per game and Reds’ supporters with 3.8.

On the opposite end of the list are the Phillies and their fans with only 2.4 drinks per game.

How Much do Beer Vendors Make at a Baseball Game?

Being a beer vendor at a baseball field may seem like a perfect job. Vendors get to go to the games for free and enjoy a premium view of the action.

However, this job is far from easy.

It involves carrying heavy tubs of beer and other beverages, going up and down the stairs, and dealing with various customers who are often not pleasant.

Vendors work as independent contractors and their earnings are directly tied to how many beers they sell and on how many games they work.

Some of them are part-time while for the others it’s a full-time occupation.

Vendors who don’t work just home games but also travel around can make $75.000-$100.000 per year.

Part-timers’ earnings are much lower and they usually make $10.000-$15.000.

The national average annual salary of a stadium vendor in the United States in 2023 is $52,586

Conclusion

Unlike any other major sport, baseball is a game deeply steeped in tradition. Some traditions have been associated with ballgames for decades.

But, probably the most integral part of the overall game experience is drinking a cold beer.

The sound of a beer can opening is associated with the game just as the crack of the ball against the wooden bat.

With every new season, beer sales at ballparks are on the rise and the choice available to beer-drinking fans is greater than ever before.

With more than a million gallons sold at MLB stadiums every year, the beer is also a big business.

It’s a significant source of revenue for both the teams and the vendors. Big breweries are jumping on the chance to associate their product with baseball.

But many ballparks are also giving space to small, local manufacturers, strengthening the connection between teams and communities.

Paul Hall
Paul Hall

Hello, I’m Paul, a 45 year old passionate baseball fan and the owner of this website. I hope my article could help to answer your questions.

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