sports fans don’t like to drink during games. No, they love to drink during games, with a full 8 percent of tested fans having BACs above the legal .08 limit. And while those chose to tailgate were in the minority (only 18 percent), those that did drank way more than fans who limited their imbibing to within the stadium walls. The results were published in the most recent issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Other useful nuggets to take with you on the slog back through the stadium parking lot:

• Researchers compiled their data from 13 MLB games and 3 NFL games, which would offer them a much larger batch of volunteers than if they stood outside an NBA or NHL game.

• In all, 48 percent of fans drink at sporting events.

• Of the 18 percent of fans that tailgated before games, a whopping 82 percent had two or more drinks, while only 8 percent did not drink.

• If you’re under 35, you’re nine times more likely to leave the game drunk. If you drink at your pre-game tailgate, make it 14 times more likely.

• 2 percent of all tailgaters did so at home. (This is what’s more technically known as “chugging a beer while the family, 20 minutes late, scurries to file into the car.”)

• 54 percent of fans tested were between the ages of 21 and 35.

• If the sample size holds true for a larger crowd, researchers estimate that some 5,000 people leaving a typical NFL game are legally drunk.

It’s an intriguing study, for sure, but we’d love the see the project expanded and more broken down by city and sport. How do Philadelphia Eagles fans compare to their Dallas Cowboy brethren? What about a boozy head-to-head between Penguins and Red Wings supporters? And can Milwaukee Bucks basketball fans, with their comfy, climate-controlled arena, hold their own with their football-watching equals in Green Bay, mere yards from the bone-chilling tundra of Lambeau?

These things we can only hope to know in time. Until then, if you’re going to drink, drink responsibly. Because more than anything, you don’t want to end up like this guy.

Photo: AP/Don Heupel

Citation: Erickson, D. J., Toomey, T. L., Lenk, K. M., Kilian, G. R. and Fabian, L. E. A. , Can We Assess Blood Alcohol Levels of Attendees Leaving Professional Sporting Events?. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, no. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01386.x

Authors: Erik Malinowski

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