Iowa Athletics Made Over $3 MILLION in Alcohol Sales Last Year

A large part of the country probably looks at Iowa as a state where there's 'nothing to do but drink and watch football (and wrestle).'

Well, they're kinda right.

Almost every Saturday in the fall, over 70,000 people pack themselves into Kinnick and Jack Trice Stadiums in Iowa City and Ames, and as of last year, the folks at Kinnick were allowed to purchase alcoholic beverages at each of the Hawks' home games.

And oh boy, they bought a lot of it.

According to The Athletic, in the seven home games that were played on Iowa's home turf, fans purchased a little over $2.5 million in alcohol. TWO AND A HALF MILLION in SEVEN GAMES.

The Athletic added that "The largest single-game gross came in a top-five matchup against Penn State, generating nearly $473,000."

To be exact, it was $2.54 million gross and that came down to a measly $2.4 million after taxes.

During the winter athletics seasons, Hawkeye sporting events brought in $632,487 in total alcohol sales. Precisely, $359,142 came during men’s basketball games (the largest single game was $42,030), $191,285 for wrestling meets, and $82,060 during women’s basketball games.

The largest amount of money that came in during a single winter sporting event was when No. 1 Penn State came to town to take on No. 2 Iowa in wrestling on January 28. The dual brought in $71,213 in one evening.

Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta made the decision to open up alcohol sales in June of 2021, likely due to the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on athletic department revenue.

This is what Barta said of alcohol sales, per HawkeyeNation:

We have been working with our campus partners on this for some time now and we are committed to maintaining a safe and enjoyable game day environment. While there is an opportunity for increased revenue, this decision was based on enhancing the fan experience and providing an additional amenity to our fans.