Brewers Loosen Beer Sales Rules in Reaction to Shorter Games

Milwaukee is adjusting its beer sale policy in response to MLB’s new rule changes.

The Brewers are adapting to MLB’s new rule changes on the field, and it seems the concessions staff is also making some adjustments in accordance with the faster-paced games.

According to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, American Family Field is extending the deadline for beer sales to the end of the eighth inning. Traditionally, Milwaukee’s last call for alcohol has come in the seventh inning, but with pace of play increasing and the length of games decreasing significantly, the stadium is making its own changes.

“From a time perspective, we're probably looking at selling beer for the same amount of time by extending to the eighth inning that we did last year through the seventh,” Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger told McCalvy. 

The organization actually implemented the change for the last two games of its 2023 home-opening series against the Mets, and now plans to continue with it barring an increase in irresponsible behavior from fans in attendance.

“Obviously, the safety and the conduct of our fans has primacy. We've had no issues, but it's a small sample size and we're going to continue to test it and see if it makes sense. I know a number of other teams are doing the same thing,” said Schlesinger. 

Through April 7 of the 2023 MLB season, the average game duration was two hours and 38 minutes, down from three hours and three minutes in 2022.