From the Chicago Sun-Times:
Bars and restaurants around Wrigley Field will be asked to stop serving alcohol after the seventh-inning stretch — just as they do inside the ballpark — to prevent Cubs playoff celebrations from turning ugly.
Ray Orozco, executive director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, said the proposed seventh-inning cutoff — discussed at a playoff security meeting Monday — would occur “only if it’s a clinch game.” Liquor sales could resume once the game is over, he said.
The voluntary moratorium would be effective on Sheffield between Newport and Irving; on Clark from Irving Park to Newport; and on Addison from Wilton to Racine.
“We’re asking bar owners in the area to participate in the interest of public safety so we celebrate in the most responsible manner possible,” Orozco said.
“It stops people from drinking for probably at least an hour. If they choose to, they can pick it up again. You’re assuming everyone is going to start drinking again [after the final out]. I don’t know if that’s necessarily so. But if you stop drinking at 3:26 p.m., you won’t be as physically impaired at 4:26 p.m.”
My forecast: if implemented, it will result in people stocking up on beers before the 7th inning stretch. It’s unclear whether this ban would have any effect on drinking, and it certainly could make fans more unruly because of the queues the ban would likely produce.
Cross-posted at Market Power
