Alcohol at Heinz? Decision?

[pitt-girl]

I have that beat.. was at muppets movie a year or two ago, granted it was pretty filled up, not completely filled but about 75% filled.. daughter sitting 2 in, me stitting one in and 2 year old son sitting on end.. 30 minutes of previews my little man wants to sit on my lap, so I tell him OK but once movie starts you are back in your seat.. Freakin adult comes in and sits down right next to me in his seat.. Wanted to kill the guy.. First off, why in the hell is an adult, by himself, going to see the muppets and secondly, he could have easily seen what was going on..

Still pissed off about this.. looking at this objectively, if you are an adult and you are going to a movie by yourself, and that movie is geared for children, you are either a pedophile or someone that has such a boring life that you deserve to get hit by a large object falling from a tall building.. Yes, I am comfortable saying this and also will say there is zero situations that justify you being at a kids movie..

My family loves to tell everyone (and I have to admit they're right) that the older I get, the more I am starting to actually hate people. I adore movies and there is something about seeing them as they are intended - on a big screen as opposed to in my living room. But I have the WORST luck with my seats wherever I go.

Many stories but my latest one was a couple of months ago. I was able to sneak away and see "Brooklyn" at a late afternoon, mid-week showing. What could go wrong? Basically an empty theater. I set myself all up - frozen coke, big popcorn, phone on Cinemode, winter coat neatly folded besides me, etc. Movie starts, I snuggle down into my seat eating my popcorn and.......suddenly there is a commotion coming down the walkway into the theater. 2 elderly people appear both trailing oxygen tanks. I look around thinking, the theater is empty, I'm safe, right? Nope. They drag themselves, wheezing, into the seats RIGHT behind me. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh..........

Of course I had to pick all my stuff up and move. Why, why, why.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

It happens all the time.
My wife and I love the beach and beginning in April we go 3 days a week and leave on day 4.
Its a 150 trip to where we go so on day one we leave at 5 am and get to the beach sometime around 7:30 am. Since we're on the beach from 7:30 to 4 we bring all our stuff for the day.
We have a push/pull beach cart, two chairs, towels, coolers, etc. Its a windy beach so the umbrellas have to have down force from a sandbag like the guys use for rental umbrellas.
The beach is empty, we love to watch the ocean early in the morning, we set up, settle in, sit down, wife & I watching the ocean, having a drink, until we hear a lot of rustling and talking.
To one side a family arrived with lots of adults, kids, 5 coolers, circus like tent, the kids are kicking balls at us, screaming, etc.it was windy so the tent was blowing into us???
I politely asked them to relocate since the beach was empty and never gets busy.
Nope! They said they liked being close to other people!
So we undid everything and moved!
That happens about 3-4 times a summer!
If I win the lottery I will buy my own beach!

 

[Swervin27]

It happens all the time.
My wife and I love the beach and beginning in April we go 3 days a week and leave on day 4.
Its a 150 trip to where we go so on day one we leave at 5 am and get to the beach sometime around 7:30 am. Since we're on the beach from 7:30 to 4 we bring all our stuff for the day.
We have a push/pull beach cart, two chairs, towels, coolers, etc. Its a windy beach so the umbrellas have to have down force from a sandbag like the guys use for rental umbrellas.
The beach is empty, we love to watch the ocean early in the morning, we set up, settle in, sit down, wife & I watching the ocean, having a drink, until we hear a lot of rustling and talking.
To one side a family arrived with lots of adults, kids, 5 coolers, circus like tent, the kids are kicking balls at us, screaming, etc.it was windy so the tent was blowing into us???
I politely asked them to relocate since the beach was empty and never gets busy.
Nope! They said they liked being close to other people!
So we undid everything and moved!
That happens about 3-4 times a summer!
If I win the lottery I will buy my own beach!

LOL, that's weird.. I can see it being done just out of someone not really paying attention but to actively be near someone, for the sake of being near someone, well that's odd.. When I take my little ones out to eat, I always ask to be seated as far away as everyone else.. For their consideration more than mine..

 

[sonofabit]

LOL, that's weird.. I can see it being done just out of someone not really paying attention but to actively be near someone, for the sake of being near someone, well that's odd.. When I take my little ones out to eat, I always ask to be seated as far away as everyone else.. For their consideration more than mine..

Probably what your little ones are thinking too.......

 

[BuffetParrothead]

LOL, that's weird.. I can see it being done just out of someone not really paying attention but to actively be near someone, for the sake of being near someone, well that's odd.. When I take my little ones out to eat, I always ask to be seated as far away as everyone else.. For their consideration more than mine..

Most of us have kids and we did the same.Actually we would request seats near the kitchen that no one else wanted.
But here's one for you. In the late 80's early 90's we'd take our kids on a lot of my nice business trips CA, FL, etc. Those were the days when flying was a bit more relaxed and actually fun.
We had our kids with us on a flight from the east coast to CA a long flight with kids on your laps. A nice flight attendant said let me take one for a while. She picked the really active one ( Mr whats coming next who knows ) and took him to the back of the plane. After a while I figured I'd check on things and walked back and saw three flight attendants scrambling picking up airline liquor bottles which were bouncing all over the floor of the aft gallery. Apparently she put him on the floor, he opened and pulled out the container holding the airline liquor bottles and dumped it. I guess they looked like toys! No more offers to take the kids for the remainder of the flight.

 

[PHATWOOD]

I have that beat.. was at muppets movie a year or two ago, granted it was pretty filled up, not completely filled but about 75% filled.. daughter sitting 2 in, me stitting one in and 2 year old son sitting on end.. 30 minutes of previews my little man wants to sit on my lap, so I tell him OK but once movie starts you are back in your seat.. Freakin adult comes in and sits down right next to me in his seat.. Wanted to kill the guy.. First off, why in the hell is an adult, by himself, going to see the muppets and secondly, he could have easily seen what was going on..

Still pissed off about this.. looking at this objectively, if you are an adult and you are going to a movie by yourself, and that movie is geared for children, you are either a pedophile or someone that has such a boring life that you deserve to get hit by a large object falling from a tall building.. Yes, I am comfortable saying this and also will say there is zero situations that justify you being at a kids movie..

Jerry?

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Jerry?

Yes did he have a Nitters hat on? LOL!

 

[big marty]

I'd be really concerned if they sell alcohol to the non club level seats for the game against Penn State. Like it or not, Pitt has some poorly behaved fans, and many Penn State fans are disgusting, so that won't end well.

So the Club seat ticket holders of which I am are different than the rest of the stadium ? Rediculous.

 

[NTOP]

I want to be careful with my position here so that it is not misunderstood. I am legitimately torn on the issue. I am leaning towards selling booze inside the stadium but it is not the slam dunk that so many insist.

I think one's view on selling booze inside the stadium depends on your personal situation. If we were talking only about adults I would agree that selling beer inside the stadium is a complete no-brainer. However, that's not what we're talking about, is it?

Families – specifically young families – comprise a large percentage of attendees at a typical Pitt football game and the easy-going atmosphere is a major part of it's appeal to those folks.

Selling booze inside the stadium absolutely can hurt attendance if people are getting drunk and acting like idiots in front of other people's children. Those people are not coming back to subject their kids to that crap and there are simply not enough people to go to the games because of the beer for that to be anything other than a financial loss for Pitt.

I haven't been to a Steelers game since 1985....never will return. And I was there with 3 other grown men. Behavior in the Club at Pitt games is fine....it's more of a social event than a group of wound-up FB fans. Not so sure the rest of the stadium would be so tame.

 

[NTOP]

My family loves to tell everyone (and I have to admit they're right) that the older I get, the more I am starting to actually hate people. I adore movies and there is something about seeing them as they are intended - on a big screen as opposed to in my living room. But I have the WORST luck with my seats wherever I go.

Many stories but my latest one was a couple of months ago. I was able to sneak away and see "Brooklyn" at a late afternoon, mid-week showing. What could go wrong? Basically an empty theater. I set myself all up - frozen coke, big popcorn, phone on Cinemode, winter coat neatly folded besides me, etc. Movie starts, I snuggle down into my seat eating my popcorn and.......suddenly there is a commotion coming down the walkway into the theater. 2 elderly people appear both trailing oxygen tanks. I look around thinking, the theater is empty, I'm safe, right? Nope. They drag themselves, wheezing, into the seats RIGHT behind me. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh..........

Of course I had to pick all my stuff up and move. Why, why, why.

Gee, I'm sorry that we scared you off!!!

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

They could do it in limited areas and the non drinkers would barely notice.

 

[NTOP]

They could do it in limited areas and the non drinkers would barely notice.

That's the system in place with the Clubs. If you sell beer at a few specific locations, how do you stop the buyer from passing it to minors, or people already drunk?? The product is portable.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

That's the system in place with the Clubs. If you sell beer at a few specific locations, how do you stop the buyer from passing it to minors, or people already drunk?? The product is portable.

They can do that in the club as well although its a smaller area!
That's why Heinz field has event security.
My worry is that selling alcohol to general admission ( GA) fans might reduce club ticket and club beer sales, increase GA ticket and beer sales ending up being financial push or overall loss. Although it might get more people in total (club+ general admission) in the stadium.

 

[KiwiJeff]

Did I miss it? I sorta remember that there was some type of announcement regarding this?

We need a fermented chicken drink.

 

[QuitCallingMeWanny]

We need a fermented chicken drink.

A Seinfeld reference is always welcome in my book

 

[big marty]

They can do that in the club as well although its a smaller area!
That's why Heinz field has event security.
My worry is that selling alcohol to general admission ( GA) fans might reduce club ticket and club beer sales, increase GA ticket and beer sales ending up being financial push or overall loss. Although it might get more people in total (club+ general admission) in the stadium.

The club sells cocktails and has nice bathrooms.Club seat owners.like to be catered to. GA ticket holders deserve choices too. I go to Cincinnati.games because my nephew goes there and beer sales.are controlled and civil. They have not had.one.incident since they started serving.

 

[Jpripper88]

Florida just approved alcohol sales at Ben Hill Griffin

If the Gators can do it......at the very least it lends strong support for Pitt to do the same.

Personally....im against this, as this is one of the differences (and benefits) of a Pitt game Vs the Steelers.....but no one cares about anything but the cabbage............

UF is only selling to their top club section and luxury suites or less than 10% of their seats. They expect only $150K total revenue out of it.

 

[Jpripper88]

Let me use an example: my family has had a huge block of Steelers season tickets going all the way back to whenever they still played at Pitt Stadium. I have been attending Panthers games on Saturdays and Steelers games on Sundays for as long as I can remember.

It is just what we've always done.

Also, we are Irish and fit all of the stereotypes. We have cops and priests in our family, and more than a few drunks in our family too. I once joked to my dad, whenever you could joke about such things, that perhaps we should consider changing our last name to Dewey given the number of DUIs my uncles and aunts had racked up.

The point is we are not exactly teetotalers.

However, the atmosphere at Steelers home games has dramatically changed over the years. It used to be a great family atmosphere that was ultimately all about football. Don't get me wrong, it was never Disney World. However, neither was it Donzi's ( is that still around?).

However, in recent years that has changed. From my vantage point, somewhere along the line, the game has become secondary to far too many fans. Now it's all about being at a party or being seen. It's weird and I don't like it at all.

Night games in particular are just ridiculous. I have two small children and I would never even consider bringing them to a Monday Night Football game because it wouldn't be fair to subject them to that nonsense before they're old enough to understand it.

I went to a Steelers night game a few years ago against Baltimore and when I went to take a leak, I inadvertently walked into very uncomfortable situation in which some random slut was giving a guy a BJ in the bathroom.

I know people think that's great and it sounds great in theory. However, it wasn't cool at all in reality and I would've been pissed had I encountered that nonsense with my three-year-old son in tow.

Now, obviously that is an extreme example – I've never seen anything remotely like that before. However, I did see it and it would never happen without so much booze being available.

I won't take either of my little boys to a Steelers game until they are at least 10–12 years old. I think it would be irresponsible of me to subject them to that craziness beforehand.

I imagine you've changed (married with kids) more than the gameday at a Steelers game has changed.

 

[ricflair4LIFE]

Crazy not to. Way too much money involved.

Hope not. There' enough crazy people there already. Don't want to become the WVU of the North.

 

[Dr. von Yinzer]

I imagine you've changed (married with kids) more than the gameday at a Steelers game has changed.

That's fair too. However, even in the time I have been an adult the atmosphere at home Steelers games has changed quite a bit - and definitely not for the better.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

I imagine you've changed (married with kids) more than the gameday at a Steelers game has changed.

I agree. There have been drunken idiots at Stiller games for several decades now.

 

[VJPITT]

Life is full of risk but I think we can manage this one ok!
Just stay away from the rowdy people.
Others enjoy being with a rowdy lively crowd.
Bottom line the worst case scenario is some people get beer thrown at them.
Happens every game in a lot of NFL parks like the Eagles and Ravens dumps.

This risk is not about you. It is about PITT though.

 

[Dr. von Yinzer]

I agree. There have been drunken idiots at Stiller games for several decades now.

Of course that's right. There have undoubtedly been drunken idiots at Steelers games for as long as there have been Steelers games. I just think the whole atmosphere at Steelers games has changed pretty substantially - particularly in the past decade or so. However, I could be wrong and it could be a perception thing.

 

[PHATWOOD]

UF is only selling to their top club section and luxury suites or less than 10% of their seats. They expect only $150K total revenue out of it.

So, 9,000 people with access to alcohol results in 150K?

And I can reach at least four times that every week and generate as much as 400 to 500K?

Where do I sign up?

 

[Jpripper88]

So, 9,000 people with access to alcohol results in 150K?

And I can reach at least four times that every week and generate as much as 400 to 500K?

Where do I sign up?

Can you though? Even if we assume it to be simple multiplication, Pitt does not control the stadium or vendors like UF does for Ben Hill Griffin. The argument for alcohol is really in terms of benefit for fans and barely makes a blip on the revenue radar.

 

[PHATWOOD]

That's patently false. While I can't tell you precisely what Pitt is going to make on alcohol sales should they decide to do so, I can assure you it will be in the 400 - 600K range.

WVU is pulling in 500K per year on alcohol sales. Most schools are probably in the same range, with the obvious caveat that not everyone has the same profit split with the vendors.

Pitt is in a town and a stadium where people are accustomed to being able to buy a beer if they choose when they take in an athletic event. More and more P5 schools are doing this.

Put it to you this way. If you make 100,000 dollars per year, but some dude stands outside your office and hands you three dollars every morning, why would you turn it down? It represents about 1% of your yearly revenue. But go and do the math on what you could do if someone gave you 1,000 dollars per year for 10 years.

This is simple. It needs to happen. It should happen. It makes sense. It's simple math.

Glad to be of help.

 

[big marty]

Im amazed folks who dont drink care. Its a couple of of expensive beers for adults on a saturday who want to enjoy a football game with or without their wife and/or family. If anyone.is.stinking drunk,.call security and throw.them out. Again, ask any College who serves if its a problem. Be an Adult

 

[PITTLAW]

If the beers are $ 7 + my wife and I wont be buying many.
Our pre and post game bar sells 16 oz cans for $ 6 so that's our beer price point.
I wonder what pricing would be to high for a PITT game?

A premium beer at the Verizon Center for the ACC Tournament was $13.50, and an alcohol based drink was $16. Needless to say, my double Goose rocks cocktails set me back a bit during Pitt's short run. Hail to Pitt!

 

[Swervin27]

A premium beer at the Verizon Center for the ACC Tournament was $13.50, and an alcohol based drink was $16. Needless to say, my double Goose rocks cocktails set me back a bit during Pitt's short run. Hail to Pitt!

Ouch.. got weird at the bar outside in the Heinz hall before a pitt/South Florida game one time. Pitt alumni swimmers rented it out and I know one so was in there. drank about $160 worth of beers.. Next morning I tell my buddy I was so drunk, I hallucinated that I was drinking with Charles Smith and Ray Jones Jr.. Turns out, I was. Well I was standing next to them, I was drinking so I just like to go ahead and say I was drinking with them. Still to this day don't know what ray jones jr was doing at a pitt-south florida football game..