The economy is hitting the whole world hard, especially the sporting world. The Lakers can’t even draw in the bored gambling crowds in Vegas for a pre-season game, the NBA’s—and most leagues—version of free money. So how do you bring the poor fans back? Well, if you’re the EPL’s Bolton Wanderers and you see an 11% drop in fans because you’re playing relegation-level soccer, you start slashing prices and giving away beer to fans. What did you think we were going to say, play better footie? It’s cheaper to give away beer than pay transfer fees.

The Lancashire club will treat the first 1,000 supporters into their pre-match Fanzone to a free lunchtime drink as well as cut-price food and subsidised beer and cider from £1.75 ahead of the clash with Paul Ince’s men.

Bolton’s newly appointed fans’ liaison officer Tony Kelly said: ‘A lot of fans have got in touch asking if the club would consider hosting a venue where they can go for a drink and something to eat before the match… I really hope the fans get behind this and bring with them the fantastic atmosphere that we saw in our European games abroad, where they all gathered before the game to get in the matchday mood.’

Yeah, we think that boozing them up before the games would help them get in that mood. So how cost effective is it give fans free beer? According to this blog, which figured out the “Beer Cost Index” for the NHL, the most expensive cost per ounce of beer for the consumer is .56 cents per ounce. So if we transfer that (sure it’s not even the same currency, but just follow us here) to Bolton buying a pint for those 1,000 fans, then it’ll cost them $8,900, or $8.90 a fan. Considering how much crap fans buy—hats, posters, scarves for God’s sake—we think that’s a worthwhile expense for a team to keep it’s fans happy under such shitty playing conditions.

EXCLUSIVE: Bolton to pull in absent punters with free beer [Daily Mail]
Forget ticket prices: Breaking down the NHL Beer Cost Index [Puck Daddy]
For the NBA, it’s not a grand pre(season) [LA Times]