Sports Biz with Darren Rovell

Is “The Beast” The Next Big Concession Item?

For years, the Gateway Grizzlies took pride in having the best minor league baseball concession item. But last year, the independent team based in Sauget, Ill., was unseated from their perch by the West Michigan Whitecaps’ Fifth Third Burger.

Once we named the Fifth Third Burger our “Minor League Concession Item Of The Year,” word about the 4,800-calorie gutbuster with 1.6 pounds of beef, salsa, melted cheese, chili and Fritos, spread around the country. In all, the team sold 1,948 of the four-pound burgers, with 298 fans finishing it themselves and in the process picking up a free T-shirt.

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But the Grizzlies may have an answer when they return to the ballpark in May. It’s called “The Beast.”

It’s 15 black angus burgers stacked on top of each other with a skewer the middle. In all, it’s five pounds of meat that will cost you 8,550 calories and 690 grams of fat. Each burger contains 1/3-pound burger with bacon and pepper jack cheese.

But unlike the Grizzlies’ previous items including its buffalo wing pretzel and it’s bacon cheese burger with Krispy Kreme doughnuts as buns, the team isn’t recommending that anyone try it themselves.

“Oh, you’d have to have a lot of talent to take this whole thing down,” said Jeff O’Neill, the team’s media relations director. “We’re shying away from the eating contest thing.”

You also have to have a lot of money. The Fifth Third Burger cost $20. The Beast? $120. And you have to order it one day in advance.

“We’re going to try to sell at least one a game in our 11 party suites,” O’Neill said.

When the season begins in May, the team also will be selling 1/15 of “The Beast,” or single burgers. Those only have 570 calories, 46 grams of fat and will cost you $6.

The team says the meat, the sauce, the bun and the produce are all from businesses less than 15 minutes away from the ballpark.

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