Free beer promotions are on hold for now

Southeast Missouri State athletic director Don Kaverman has not ruled out the possibility of free beer being provided at some of the university's future baseball games.

But Kaverman said that for now at least, the tradition has been put on hold until Southeast officials can meet with various community members who have voiced their opposition to the practice.

Saturday's scheduled River Eagle Distributing Day at Capaha Park, when the local distributor planned to provide free beer and food to fans, was canceled by the university and not River Eagle, as had been previously reported.

Kaverman said the decision was made late last week after some people had recently complained about the April 6 game against Missouri, when Bluff City Beer provided beer and food to more than 2,700 fans who made up the second-largest crowd in Southeast baseball history.

"Evidently there were some concerns expressed by members of the community who might have been concerned with the behavior of some of the students at the game," Kaverman said. "I said perhaps it's best if we just postpone this promotion, visit with some groups, see what their complaints are and what the best way to present these things are."

Kaverman said he was out of town and did not attend the April 6 game, but "none of my staff saw anything. We've had these promotions for years and we have never had any problems, but I thought it was just best to step back."

For the past several years, Southeast has had various special game sponsors throughout the season for home baseball contests.

Bluff City Beer, River Eagle Distributing and Kohlfeld Distributing -- which is the scheduled game sponsor on May 7 -- are all major financial supporters of Southeast athletics, Kaverman said.

"All three are big boosters of ours, big sponsors of ours," Kaverman said. "We're not in the business of providing free alcohol or that kind of thing, we're just trying to make the games as enjoyable as possible for everybody.

"I don't have any problem with it (alcohol), but I know some people are philosophically against it. I think if it's done in a responsible fashion ... we've taken pains to check ID's, make sure there was no abuse going on. We've never had any problems."

Kaverman said that, as of now, Kohlfeld Distributing Day is still on for May 7, but that could change.

"I'm not suggesting that we're never going to have another one of these. I think they're popular with our fans, and I think we've done a good job of controlling things," he said. "If there are some people who take offense to it, then we'd like to sit down with them and talk about it, see what their concerns are."

Kaverman pointed out that local beer distributors are not Southeast's only game sponsors. Health Facilities Rehab Day is May 20, with that organization planning to provide food and soft drinks.