Editor's Note: A glove tap goes out to Japers Rink for the inspiration behind this post and possibly more like it in the future.
This is something that came up on Twitter yesterday but it appears that, once upon a time, the Maple Leafs did not sell beer at Maple Leaf Gardens! This is shocking in an age when you assume that it's impossible to get through a game without numbing the pain without at least one bucket of beer (MSRP $14) but Toronto The Good extended beyond Orange Day Parades and no liquor/beer sales on Sundays. Courtesy of MF37 here's the abstract of Bob Papoe's coverage of the new revenue streams:
Maple Leaf treasurer Donald Crump said shareholders will notice the difference beer makes to the Gardens' bottom line.
He added that beer prices at the Gardens will be competitive with those at SkyDome ($4.50 for a 14-ounce cup), and that about 2 per cent of the Gardens seats will be designated as "non-drinking" areas.
[Cliff Fletcher] said the Gardens must find "alternate revenue streams," including selling beer and Maple Leaf merchandise, because fans will very shortly resist further ticket price increases.
If you can believe it, beer's only been available at Maple Leafs games for 18 years and it makes sense because hockey fans drink a tonne of suds:
"Hockey and beer go together," said Andy England, the executive vice president and chief marketing officer for MillerCoors. "Hockey fans are big beer drinkers. In fact, we have data that shows hockey fans are the biggest beer drinkers of any major sports league."$400 million over seven years is a hell of a sponsorship deal but it's just too bad that more arenas don't do a better job of offering fans a better selection of beers.