Uproar ensued this week when a member of golf media podcast "No Laying Up" posted the concession prices for the PGA Championship.
Among them, $18 for a Michelob Ultra and $19 for a Michelob Ultra seltzer.
Momentum continued Tuesday when golfer Justin Thomas threw himself into the fray in a tweet that garnered nearly 30,000 likes.
$18([[) for a beer… uhhhh what. Gotta treat the fans better than that! 🤦🏽♂️ https://t.co/7DeyC7WTJE
— Justin Thomas (@JustinThomas34) May 17, 2022
So how off are the prices? For its part, Delaware North, the vendor at the PGA Championship, wants to make sure we are talking apples to apples.
"Pricing at the 2022 PGA Championship is in line with other major sports and entertainment events,” Delaware North said in a statement. “There has been initial confusion over beer pricing, as some social media posts have failed to note that the price they are citing is for a larger-size 25-ounce beer.”
The price compared to what you can get in the liquor store is, of course, outrageous, but that’s always the case when comparing what you can buy on your own to what you will pay in a stadium or even a bar.
Three Michelob Ultra tall boys (15 oz) beers can be bought in a pack of three for between $8-$10 depending on location (between .11 and .13 an oz at retail). The price at the PGA computes to .72 an ounce, which makes it among the highest in sports history.
A 25 oz. Michelob Ultra tallboy at this year’s Super Bowl, for example, was $17.
What makes this concession chart a little different is that the venue, Southern Hills Country Club, is in Tulsa, Okla., where the cost of living is roughly 60% lower than New York City.
Delaware North wouldn’t specifically comment on what made the beer so expensive. There are obviously labor costs baked into serving at a venue.
At least there’s one rival to the prices at Southern Hills. The New York Port Authority found that airline passengers at LaGuardia Airport were charged “totally indefensible amounts” for beer that ranged from $23 to $27. As a result, standards are being revised.
