Houston Astros fans bought $12.8 million in beer and liquor at Minute Maid Park so far in 2021
13 Investigates reveals what percentage of tax money the city of Houston gets with each fan's beer purchase.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Wondering how fans are enjoying the ballpark since the Houston Astros came back in full swing?
This year alone, Astros fans have bought a total of $12.8 million worth of beer, wine and liquor at Minute Maid Park.
As the team hopes for a win in Friday's ALCS Game 6, local governments are already winning.
This year's sales are on pace to be the most the park has seen in the last five years.
Tax collections from the alcohol alone hit $1.9 million.
It doesn't count all the hot dogs, popcorn and nachos fans are buying this year either.
After a year without many fans in the 2020 COVID-era, fans came back ready to cheer, eat and drink.
"We were like, wow, the fans are really excited about being out," Aramark's senior executive chef Jimmy Coatsworth told 13 Investigates. "They were buying, they were having a good time. They were eating Cracker Jack, popcorn and sodas and beer. Just the smell of those aromas in the stadium, the hot dogs cooking, the popcorn, the beer -- it brought that nostalgia of a baseball game, that stadium atmosphere back into the city."
Every time you buy a beer worth $7.50 at the ballpark, the government takes $1.12.
It's 14.95% in Mixed Beverage Sales & Gross Receipts Taxes.
The state keeps roughly 80% while Harris County and the city of Houston each get a little more than 10% of the tax revenue, according to the Texas State Comptroller's office.
This season is a huge improvement over last year.
In the 2020 COVID-era season Minute Maid Park collected just $85,880.13 over the whole season. By comparison, three times as much was collected in April of this year alone.
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