On-premise beer sales during Super Bowl LV were as depressed as Kansas City Chiefs fans after their team’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Beer volumes declined 46% compared to Super Bowl LIV, according to BeerBoard, which tracks draft sales at bars and restaurants across the country.
“This is on pace with the average decline experienced weekly across the country,” BeerBoard wrote.
Each year, three cities typically see a boost in beer sales during game day and in the days leading up to it — the home cities of the competing teams and the city hosting the game. In 2021, for the first time, Tampa, Florida, was both the host of the game and the home of the victors. But that historic designation wasn’t enough to bump beer sales, which were 28.3% lower than they were on the previous Super Bowl Sunday. In Kansas City, Missouri, draft sales were down 55% compared to last year.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the game’s official beer sponsor, saw some return on its investment, as sales of Bud Light (+7%) and Michelob Ultra (+3.5%) increased nationwide. In Tampa, Bud Light received an even bigger boost (+9.2%), while Michelob Ultra sales increased 3% in the host city.
Two of BeerBoard’s biggest movers in 2020 — Constellation Brands’ Modelo Especial and Heineken-owned Lagunitas IPA — were relatively flat, with increases of 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.
Across styles, light lagers (-1.4%) and IPAs (-1.8%) were down nationwide, but sales of lagers increased 0.9%.