Why do stadiums sell bottled drinks without bottle caps?
aluhm > 02-08-2018, 07:52 AM
I must admit I always thought is was a marketing strategy. It's not really convenient to keep a bottle without the bottle cap. Bottles without a cap might be consumed faster than with a cap, possibly boosting sales. Of course liquid can be poured in plastic or paper cups instead, but this is less convenient to do than just hand out plastic bottles. Unfortunately I haven't found anything that supports this initial assumption, except for the following article covering a part of the profitability of plastic bottles and the reason why it might be hard to ban them completely or replace them with paper cups.
They are profitable for stadiums because concessionaires can dispense them more quickly than beer poured from a keg or can. Also, at $5 to $6 and more, the 16-ounce and 20-ounce bottles include a nice mark up, experts state. Fans like them because they are easier to carry than plastic cups and lack the suds of draught beer.
As mentioned by Stephanie Vardavas the main consideration for removing bottle caps are safety issues, i.e. to make them less effective as a weapon, as is mentioned on several sites as well.
E.g. at a game of the Cleveland Browns against Jacksonville Jaguars in 2001 there was a bottle-throwing incident, referred to as "bottlegate", where fans got upset with a referee's decision and started throwing bottles. The Giants, another football team, subsequently decided to ban bottled drinks