Facing a potential student exodus ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, Rice University in Houston, Texas, has launched a bold and unconventional campaign to fill the stands for its American football team's final home game.
A Pre-Holiday Attendance Crisis
The Rice Owls are scheduled for a significant match against the 22nd-ranked North Texas team this Saturday night at the university's stadium. However, with the Thanksgiving break less than a week away, campus officials are concerned that students will leave early for the holiday, leading to embarrassingly empty seats. Kevin Dwan, Rice's deputy athletic director for external affairs and revenue generation, confirmed the challenge, stating, 'The weekend before Thanksgiving, a lot of students are already heading off campus, heading home for the holiday.'
This has prompted the university to implement a series of attractive incentives designed to convince the undergraduate student body to delay their travel plans and support the team.
The Lure: Free Beer, Ice Cream, and Cash Prizes
The promotion is multifaceted, offering something for almost every student. The most eye-catching element is the offer of free 12-ounce beers for students aged 21 and over at a stand near the student section. This is a particularly rare move, as while many US colleges now sell alcohol at games, giving it away free remains highly unusual.
For younger students or those not interested in alcohol, the university has other enticements. Simply by showing their school ID, all students can receive:
- Free Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
- A free T-shirt, available to the first 500 students.
- A $15 voucher redeemable at two on-site food trucks.
Adding a competitive edge, the university is also offering a prize for the residential college with the highest turnout: a speaker system and a $500 gift card to a local grocery store.
Safety and Precedent
The university has emphasised that it is taking all necessary safety precautions. Despite the free beer promotion, Rice will maintain its strict policy of halting all alcohol sales after the third quarter of the game. Dwan assured that the university is 'taking all the precautions that we normally do, and even more, to make sure that it remains a really safe environment.'
Rice has a history with stadium alcohol, having been a pioneer in the US as one of the first universities to sell beer and wine at home games back in 2008. This free beer initiative, however, is a step further. A similar promotion in 2021 by Portland State's football coach, Bruce Barnum, resulted in him personally footing a $14,448 bill for 2,064 beers.
The stakes are high for Rice. While an impressive 2,841 students attended the first home game of the season from an undergraduate body of just under 5,000, the average student attendance has since settled at around 800 per game. For this crucial pre-holiday clash, the university would consider attracting more than 600 students a successful turnout, hoping their creative incentives will make the difference.
