Sports Biz

Published: Monday, 3 Aug 2009 | 2:07 PM ET

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Lake County Captains

When promotions really go wrong, they’re often not tried again. But the Lake County Captains, the Single-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, managed to play a full game last night while offering five cent beers.

The promotion was meant to recognize the night 35 years ago when the Indians actually held Nickel Beer night. The promotion led to one of the largest crowds in years (25,134), but it also ended in the Indians having to forfeit the game as drunk fans predictably went nuts, hurling beer bottles onto the field.

Because of the anniversary, Lake County Captains president Peter Carfagna - who says he was at that game – gave the OK.

Here’s how they pulled it off without any game interruption and not a single arrest.

Beer was only served from when the game opened (6 pm) to when the game started (7 pm). Each cup of beer was five ounces and fans could only get two cups per person.

The team served 2,000 cups of beer, according to Jonathan Levey, the team’s director of promotions. But it appears like lines were long enough so that it would be physically impossible for an average adult to get drunk.

To the team’s credit, they actually had some acceptable draft beers being offered for the nickel. Fans could choose from Bud, Bud Light, Miller Lite and Labatt’s.

Anyone up for doing Disco Demolition Night again?

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