You can thank three sellouts for all the beer sales at Kenan.

UNC announced last week that beer and wine sales at the first three home football games boosted concession revenues over the $1 million mark. No breakdown of other products was given, so we are not sure exactly what the alcoholic upside amounted to.

For example, if some people were buying booze instead of soft drinks, it is likely that the sale of Coke and Diet Coke and other beverages went down at least a little bit. And don’t construe that the university sold a million bucks-worth of brew in three games. That is not what the reported said.

The most important factor in all this are the 50,500-plus fans who have packed Kenan Stadium upon Mack Brown’s return to Carolina and college coaching. Had attendance lagged like in the last two seasons, all sales in the stadium would have lagged along with it. Unless, of course, those who came to the games drank themselves into a blither to get over what was happening on the field.

And the favorable scheduling had a lot to do with it too. Not only the capacity crowds but who was in the stands from visiting opponents Miami, Appalachian State and Clemson, the last two of which bought thousands of more tickets than their allotment from various sources and showed up loud and proud wearing their black and gold and orange garb.

App State fans who came down the mountain had to love that three different brands of beer were on sale. Or maybe not since the Mounties love to party and will consume everything from Moon Shine to Blue Moon. They had a lot to imbibe about as the dramatic game wound down and eventually turned their way at the end.

And Clemson, well, those boys bought a lot of brew too, as hawked seats all over Kenan, from the 50-yard line in the lower bowl to the far corners of the upper decks on both sides. Coming to Chapel Hill had to have a whole new meaning to Tigers fans, although with the one-beer, one-person policy they probably made a few more trips to the concession stands than expected.

The Dukies coming over this Saturday are closer to the wine-and-cheese crowd that made the Smith Center infamous. Their furred-and-watered fans might actually boost wine sales. And they’ll get high on life if they can keep the Victory Bell dark blue for another year.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
Chansky's Notebook: Bailing Out
Roy Williams probably had reasons for the soft statements. Carolina fans reacted strongly to the video of a team party after the win over Duke. Only Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe were in the video, but a statement from players and managers said it was supposed to be a closed event that other students and […]
Chansky's Notebook: Please, Go In!
UNC men's basketball faces what is an early season must-win at Georgia Tech. Art Chansky says a look at the statistics is painful, but not terminal.
Chansky's Notebook: Leaky Steps Up
Dean Smith used to say he’ll be happy with a one-point win. The legendary UNC basketball coach struggled spiritually between playing well according to his teachings, regardless of outcome, and winning no matter how poorly you play. Since his job was to win and he was so competitive, he chose the latter. If he was […]
Chansky's Notebook: Rock(et) Star
Ben Kiernan was UNC’s MVP of the Notre Dame game. When Mack Brown went over the 31-17 loss, he gave mixed reviews to the two main branches of his Tar Heels’ play. He said the offense was good in the first half and then “went dead” in a scoreless second half. He praised the Tar […]
Chansky's Notebook: Goals and Ambitions
Garrison Brooks has both opportunity and pressure. On paper, the ACC looks as weak as it has been in some time due to widespread losses to graduation and early departures to the NBA, and no sure-shot superstars in the incoming recruiting classes. A beneficiary of this development is Brooks, the Carolina senior who was second-team All-ACC last year and earned the league’s […]
Chansky's Notebook: A COVID Debate
Clemson was livid that Florida State wouldn’t play the game. Let’s be lawyers, and make a case for each of the teams that did not play its scheduled game over the weekend. Clemson had traveled to Florida State when it learned a player with mild symptoms who had practiced with the team all week tested […]
Chansky's Notebook: Draft Dodgers
Carolina and Duke players have lost ground in the NBA draft. Like everything else with sports in the COVID era, the NBA draft goes off tonight after being postponed for five months. And if you look at the various mock draft boards, certain things jump off your screen. First of all, about half the names […]
Chansky's Notebook: A Two-Thirds Bet?
What if Phil Mickelson and Mack Brown amended their bet? With the Masters being moved back to this weekend due to COVID, perhaps the three-time champion should revisit the fun bet he made with Carolina’s football coach back in 2003. The famed lefthander was still seeking his first Green Jacket when he partnered with the Texas football coach at the […]
Chansky's Notebook: Kudos To Carolina
UNC teams did a commendable job beating the odds. Who among us thought the ACC would be playing football and other fall sports last summer? With the pandemic upon us and the medical experts still learning, the seasons looked like a long shot. While other conferences pumped the breaks and/or called off football, the ACC […]
Chansky's Notebook: Extra Motivation
Carolina’s schedule could be working to its advantage. When the COVID-revised list of games came out, it looked troublesome for the Tar Heels with Virginia Tech and Florida State basically bookending Notre Dame and Miami with four rivalry games in a row right in the middle. Coaches usually don’t like that because it takes a […]
›