Alcohol Influenced Football Marketing
Tailgating before a sporting event involves beer, food, and fun. What you may not know is the aftermath can include DUIs, drunk and disorderly citations, fights and some patrons who even end up at drug rehab. In Florida, awareness of these issues and has created campaigns (sponsored by the leagues and alcohol companies) to help alleviate drunken driving issues.  The Miami Dolphins’ Designated Driver Program has been part of a social media rivalry with their division rival New York Jets to help decrease drunk driving. Professional league owners are not the only ones attempting to discourage irresponsibility of alcohol use at football games. Currently, some college sports programs are cutting back on the amount of alcohol marketing during sporting programs. This may help with the recovering addicts decreasing temptation while watching the sports they love after drug rehab. In Florida, university measures have included ending alcohol sponsorships (Miami) and no longer allowing alcohol advertising on school-controlled TV and radio broadcasts (University of Florida). It seems that television companies are hoping that stopping alcohol advertising will help weaken the link between sporting events and excessive alcohol consumption. If more league owners and television stations used their power of influence for good, like minimizing alcohol at sporting events, maybe we would see a decrease in the association. Alcohol companies know better though and the majority of funding for these great stadiums and airing of games comes from their dollars. This puts the league owners between a rock and a hard place. Something seems wrong with our society that poison like alcohol has such power over these decisions. Do you think people lose the spirit of watching sports because they are drunk? Share your comments with us below or on our Facebook page. We are interested in your opinion.
