The Houston Astros were recognized on February 7, 2018 for winning the 2017 Budweiser Good Sport Designated Driver Challenge against the Texas Rangers. Representatives from the Astros, Aramark, Silver Eagle Distributors and TEAM Coalition gathered for the celebration.
The Budweiser Good Sport Designated Driver Challenge tracked the number of fans who pledged to be designated drivers at all 2017 regular season home games for both Clubs. Each fan who pledged to be a designated driver at Minute Maid Park earned the Astros 1 point in the challenge. The Astros finished with 19,216 designated drivers as compared to 9,738 for the Rangers.
The Astros, Aramark and Anheuser-Busch have been working together successfully for the Budweiser Good Sport designated driver program for more than a decade. The Budweiser Good Sport designated driver program is just one component of the fan behavior initiatives offered by the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. Other components include:
- A Guest Code of Conduct posted in and around Minute Maid Park
- Alcohol service policies including ID checks for fans who look 35 years of age or younger, no more than two alcoholic beverages per person per transaction and alcohol cut-off at the end of the seventh inning
US DOT / NHTSA 2016 NATIONAL DATA:
• In 2016, 10,497 people were killed as a result of alcohol-related (BAC > 0.08) car crashes, an increase of 1.7% from the 10,265 fatalities in 2015.
• Many, if not most of those lives would have been saved if people did not drive when they were impaired by alcohol or if they used sober, designated drivers or if they simply wore their seat belts.
• Statistics and research clearly show that 21-34 year old males are the demographic most likely to be involved in an automobile crash, drive when impaired by alcohol, and fail to buckle up.