The return of professional football didn’t result in a boost to on-premise beer trends, contrary to years past.
Opening weekend of the 2025 NFL season (September 4-7) led to high-single-digit declines in both draft beer (-7.3%) and packaged products (-8.3%) compared to 2024 opening weekend (September 5-8), according to on-premise tech and insights firm BeerBoard.
“This marks a pullback from its role as the steady anchor of game-day consumption, especially after 8% growth over the 2024 opening weekend,” BeerBoard said of draft’s trends, noting this year’s trends offer insight into evolving gameday drinking habits.
Draft trends started off in the black for the Thursday night rivalry game between defending Super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. Draft beer sales increased 2% opening night, although packaged sales declined 10.7%.
“Much of that decline fell on beer and seltzers, while RTD (ready-to-drink) and NA (non-alcoholic) options do not claim as much share as light lager and lagers in package sales, they continued to outperform with impressive growth of 37.6% and 39.7%, respectively,” BeerBoard said.
Light beers held four of the top five draft rankings, led by Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (A-B) Michelob Ultra. Molson Coors’ Miller Lite and Coors Light, Constellation Brands’ Modelo Especial and A-B’s Bud Light rounded out the top five.
Michelob Ultra also claimed the top spot among packaged products for the weekend, followed by Constellation’s Corona Extra, Miller Lite, Modelo Especial and Coors Light.
Zeroing in on the opening night clash, Michelob Ultra was the top draft brand in Dallas, while Miller Lite led in Philadelphia, BeerBoard reported. Modelo Especial finished the weekend as the top packaged beer in Dallas, while Stateside’s Surfside Iced Tea & Lemonade + Vodka reigned in its hometown of Philadelphia.
Gallo’s High Noon Sun Sips Pineapple was the top RTD canned cocktail in the on-premise over the weekend. Surfside Iced Tea & Lemonade + Vodka, Boston Beer’s Sun Cruiser vodka iced tea, A-B’s Nütrl vodka seltzer watermelon and High Noon Sun Sips Peach made up the rest of the top five.
Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw black cherry led hard seltzer segment sales, followed by Boston Beer’s Twisted Tea original, White Claw mango, Boston Beer’s Truly wild berry and Molson Coors’ Topo Chico strawberry guava.
Finally, NA beer and seltzers “showed staying power” on gameday, BeerBoard said. Heineken 0.0 was the top-selling NA brand in bars and restaurants, followed by Dos Equis Lime & Salt Zero, A-B’s Michelob Ultra Zero and Athletic Brewing’s Run Wild and Upside Dawn golden.