Daisy Espinoza / Houston Public Media
Rice University’s football team is playing in prime time on Saturday night in Houston, hosting the University of North Texas in one of the Owls’ biggest games of the season.
They’re giving out free beer to shore up student turnout.
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Students age 21 and older attending the 6:30 p.m. game at Rice Stadium can get free beer and several other free promotions.
“Rice Students, there’s no reason to miss the [Rice football] game this Saturday!” Eric George, assistant vice president and deputy athletic director at Rice, wrote in a post on X. “Free shirts, free food, and free beer! Cancel your current plans and join us at Rice Stadium!”
George was sharing a post from the Rice Athletics account, which has since removed the post, which depicted two cups of beer with “FREE BEER” in large, bold letters on top. It was an image you might not necessarily expect from a university ranked 17th nationwide academically, according to the U.S. News and World Report.
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A Rice athletics spokesperson confirmed to Houston Public Media on Friday that the free beer promotion is still on, and the move is garnering national attention. Rice deputy athletic director for external affairs and revenue Kevin Dwan spoke with The New York Times‘ sports division, The Athletic, about the promotion.
“We’re playing on national TV, we’re playing for bowl eligibility, we’re playing a top-25 team in North Texas, and it’s the weekend before Thanksgiving, so a lot of our students are off campus already and heading home,” Dwan told The Athletic. “And we just want to do what we can to encourage them to stick around and come out to the game.”
Rice is 5-5 overall this season and 2-4 in the American Conference, needing one more win to become bowl eligible. North Texas is ranked 22nd in the nation by The Associated Press, standing at 9-1 overall and 5-1 in the conference.
Saturday night’s game will be televised on ESPNU.
