A senior EFL official told UK MPs that they want regulations surrounding the sale of alcohol to be reduced but with younger generations drinking less and less, are they missing an opportunity?
I write this as someone who helped market one of football’s pioneering sponsors in the 90s/00s - Carling. All about understanding the consumption habits of working class Britain at the time, and encouraging (mostly) men to drink responsibly.
Today, every data point reveals a different truth: In most instances, the next generation football fan - probably sports fan - would happily opt for the low/no alcohol option at live events.
Lucky Saint founder Luke Boase is spot on when he said “We believe the greatest reward of drinking is the social connection, not the alcohol”.
Number of England fan arrests at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, bemoaned for not serving alcohol at stadia? Zero.
Visiting fan response? A combination of relief and delight.
So rather than lament missed revenue opportunities at the bar, the more forward thinking rights holders will tune into the data, make more low/no alcohol drink available, understand the potential to pull a younger audience, a family audience; and model a business on tomorrow’s opportunity rather than yesterday’s man.
Thanks for this brilliant comment Andy. You're spot on in your analysis of this.
This isn't about telling rights holders to stop serving alcohol. It is about saying, you've been dealt with certain cards (regulations) and here is an opportunity to play those cards for a good outcome rather than simply folding (lamenting the missed revenue opp/ pushing for a new deck of cards)
Perhaps we ought to get a group together for a catch up at The Lucky Saint in the near future 😀🍻
I write this as someone who helped market one of football’s pioneering sponsors in the 90s/00s - Carling. All about understanding the consumption habits of working class Britain at the time, and encouraging (mostly) men to drink responsibly.
Today, every data point reveals a different truth: In most instances, the next generation football fan - probably sports fan - would happily opt for the low/no alcohol option at live events.
Lucky Saint founder Luke Boase is spot on when he said “We believe the greatest reward of drinking is the social connection, not the alcohol”.
Number of England fan arrests at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, bemoaned for not serving alcohol at stadia? Zero.
Visiting fan response? A combination of relief and delight.
So rather than lament missed revenue opportunities at the bar, the more forward thinking rights holders will tune into the data, make more low/no alcohol drink available, understand the potential to pull a younger audience, a family audience; and model a business on tomorrow’s opportunity rather than yesterday’s man.
As always Andy Marston, superb analysis 🙌
Thanks for this brilliant comment Andy. You're spot on in your analysis of this.
This isn't about telling rights holders to stop serving alcohol. It is about saying, you've been dealt with certain cards (regulations) and here is an opportunity to play those cards for a good outcome rather than simply folding (lamenting the missed revenue opp/ pushing for a new deck of cards)
Perhaps we ought to get a group together for a catch up at The Lucky Saint in the near future 😀🍻