Sample National Op Ed

Super Bowl Sunday Brings a Super Dose of Secondhand Alcohol Problems

As sports fans across the country ready their cold beer and chips for Sunday’s Super Bowl XXXIX, public health and safety officials are bracing themselves for a challenging day of overtime. That’s because the Super Bowl—which boasts the largest TV audience and the most private parties of the year—is also one of the worst days for alcohol’s tragic and costly “secondhand” effects.

The tobacco control movement reached a tipping point with widespread public recognition that exposure to secondhand smoke harms the health of non-smokers. Other than drinking-driving crashes, we don’t often think about the secondhand effects of alcohol. But alcohol’s external impacts are even greater than those of tobacco. In addition to innocent lives lost and injuries to non-drinkers resulting from alcohol-related crashes, alcohol contributes to roughly half of all injury deaths (fires, falls, drowning), most cases of homicide, and a significant percentage of all other violent crime including rape. Alcohol use results in more than $100 billion annually in lost productivity from both premature death and an estimated 500 million lost workdays each year. Alcohol use is also strongly correlated with family violence, often triggering or aggravating incidents of violence in the home.

The fact that Super Bowl Sunday brings an extra dose of alcohol-related problems is no secret to law enforcement and emergency personnel. Long before we know which football teams will play in the national championship, preparations begin for the downside of Super Bowl Sunday—and not just in the host city. Police and sheriff’s departments schedule extra officers in case Super Bowl celebrations turn into riots—as they did last year in Boston after the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl. Trauma centers make sure they can handle the excess highway deaths and injuries—higher even than New Year’s Eve—that follow the Super Bowl broadcast each year. Shelters for victims of family violence ensure appropriate coverage because, like other major holidays, Super Bowl Sunday is often an extra busy day.

But, while many public officials may prepare for its extraordinary demands, they treat Super Bowl Sunday like an earthquake or hurricane—a natural force, whose destruction can be minimized, but not prevented. In reality, as most of the problems associated with Super Bowl Sunday are fueled by alcohol—particularly heavy drinking—limits on the availability of alcoholic beverages would prevent many of these costly consequences. At a minimum, alcohol retailers and party hosts—like the beer vendors at the game—should stop selling or serving alcohol after the third quarter.

Since everyone pays for alcohol’s secondhand effects, we all have an interest in prevention. Just as we have changed business and social practices to protect people from secondhand smoke, communities can reduce the secondhand impacts of alcohol by implementing Responsible Beverage Service (RBS)—a set of proven serving techniques and policies that reduce intoxication and underage drinking. Local coalitions in Grand Prairie, Dallas and Fort Worth are working to launch RBS in their communities. Their success will mean fewer secondhand alcohol effects and a safer Super Bowl next year. In the meantime, keep a good thought for all the police and other emergency responders who will be working this Sunday. They’re going to have their hands full.