There is nothing better than a pennant race for beer vendors. A pennant race means many more butts in the seats and more excitement. This leads to more beers sold, and… happier fans.
Fortunately the Twins are in the chase again this year.
There were 43,338 fans in the Dome on Saturday with only 4 home games remaining. The walk-up tickets sold were over 7,000. This was the 2nd largest crowd of the year (after Opening Night way back in April).
Compare this to Toronto @ Tampa Bay, where there were only about 22,000 tickets sold and there were probably about 10,000 no shows. (Many baseball fans remember last year when the Rays were leading the AL East and were selling out every game at “The Trop” in September.)
Since 2001, most baseball games in September at the Dome have meant something.
The 1990’s were not like this. There were many games in the late 90’s were announced crowds were under 10,000 and the actual number of people in the building was maybe 6,000.
These games are BRUTAL!
To be honest, I skipped a lot of them. These games tend to just drag on and those in attendance don’t feel like spending any money on a losing team. $6.75 for a 16 oz. beer sounds a whole lot worse when the team on the field is 22 games out and behind by 5 runs in the 4th inning.
I like to call these games “exercise games”. The only good thing about working them is that you don’t have to go to the gym that day.
Beer vendors spend “exercise games” walking twice as many steps and selling half as many beers. To quote a vendor hired in 1982, “You do the math!” That results in more work and less pay.
Now, every good beer vendor likes to work hard, but we like the end result to be making MORE money.
Fortunately the Twins are in the chase again this year.
There were 43,338 fans in the Dome on Saturday with only 4 home games remaining. The walk-up tickets sold were over 7,000. This was the 2nd largest crowd of the year (after Opening Night way back in April).
Compare this to Toronto @ Tampa Bay, where there were only about 22,000 tickets sold and there were probably about 10,000 no shows. (Many baseball fans remember last year when the Rays were leading the AL East and were selling out every game at “The Trop” in September.)
Since 2001, most baseball games in September at the Dome have meant something.
The 1990’s were not like this. There were many games in the late 90’s were announced crowds were under 10,000 and the actual number of people in the building was maybe 6,000.
These games are BRUTAL!
To be honest, I skipped a lot of them. These games tend to just drag on and those in attendance don’t feel like spending any money on a losing team. $6.75 for a 16 oz. beer sounds a whole lot worse when the team on the field is 22 games out and behind by 5 runs in the 4th inning.
I like to call these games “exercise games”. The only good thing about working them is that you don’t have to go to the gym that day.
Beer vendors spend “exercise games” walking twice as many steps and selling half as many beers. To quote a vendor hired in 1982, “You do the math!” That results in more work and less pay.
Now, every good beer vendor likes to work hard, but we like the end result to be making MORE money.
Back to Saturday’s game…
The Dome roof played a part in the end result. In the eighth inning, Tiger left fielder, Don Kelly (no relation to former Twins Skipper, Tom Kelly) lost a routine fly ball in the roof and it allowed the tying and winning run to score.
Sure, it would have been a great day for outdoor baseball - 83 degrees and sunny… but the Twins might have lost that game and that would have lead to smaller crowds (and fewer beers sold) the next day.
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