Apparently, it’s not against the law to reduce beer prices at sports events. Who knew?
The 49ers said Monday that cutting the cost of malted beverages by 25 cents per cup was one of the “enhancements” they are planning for Levi’s Stadium in the venue’s second NFL year of operation, which begins Sunday with an exhibition game against Dallas.
Other changes and upgrades include:
All in all, the team listed 30 “upgrades” for the “in-venue experience” in a news release.
But cheaper beer? That could be the real shocker — even if Al Guido, the 49ers’ chief operation officer, admits it isn’t exactly a huge price slash. Beer will go from $10.25 to $10. The cost of bottled water will be cut even more, from $5.75 to $5, at least partly in response to the concerns about the Santa Clara sun beating down on fans. The new price points should speed concession lines, now that cashiers don’t have to fish out quarters to make change.
“We just looked at the whole picture and decided it didn’t make a lot of sense to have our workers spend so much time doing that,” Guido said during a phone interview, “so we rounded those prices down to the even dollar.”
For the heat, one of the team’s remedies is more friendly scheduling.
“We can control the kickoff times for preseason games,” Guido said. “So we set those to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. for our two this time and we appreciate Coach (Jim) Tomsula and the team going along with that.”
The 49ers also asked NFL schedule makers cut them a break. Thus, the season opener is a Monday game on Sept. 14 with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff time. There will also only be two afternoon home games before November.
Additionally, Guido said, the team has formed a new “49ers Cool Crew” of employees who will provide fans with disposable cooling wipes, sunscreen, sunglasses, lip balm and hand fans if requested. Fans will also be permitted to bring empty water bottles into the stadium that can be refilled at venue water fountains.
Read Mark Purdy’s blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/purdy. Contact him at mpurdy@mercurynews.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/MercPurdy.
