Rice University is making significant efforts to attract students to this weekend’s football game, though some are questioning the safety of their approach.

This Saturday, the Rice Owls will take on the 22nd-ranked North Texas team at the university’s stadium in Houston.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the university is concerned that many students will leave campus early, eager to head home for the holiday, potentially leading to low attendance at the game.

In a bid to fill the stands, Rice has resorted to some creative strategies, including a rather unconventional offer.

The university is enticing students aged 21 and over with an offer of free 12-ounce beers, available at a concession near the student section of Rice Stadium.

For those not yet old enough to sip on a larger, fear not. The free booze is not the only enticement that the school is employing.

Rice University is pulling out all the stops to lure students to the football team’s game

The Rice Owls face 22nd-ranked North Texas on Saturday night at the school’s stadium

The average attendance at Rice’s home games reportedly includes around 800 students

Students will also earn free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream; a free T-shirt, for the first 500 students; and a $15 voucher that can be used at two food trucks simply by showing their school ID.

Furthermore, the residential college with the highest attendance will win a speaker and a $500 gift card to a local grocery. 

‘The weekend before Thanksgiving, a lot of students are already heading off campus, heading home for the holiday, things like that,’ Kevin Dwan, Rice’s deputy athletic director for external affairs and revenue generation, said via NBC News. 

‘So we wanted to be as creative as possible to incentivize the students to stick around and come out to the game. That’s kind of the genesis of it.’ 

However, not everyone was so convinced that the idea was a good plan as they questioned plying college students with free booze. 

One sarcastic social media user asked: ‘What could possibly go wrong by giving free beer to students at a football game?!??’

‘Baseball tried this in the 70s. Had a riot lol,’ another snidely added, referring to the Cleveland Indians’ ill-fated Ten-Cent Beer Night in 1974. 

The promotion was meant to improve attendance at the game by offering cups of beer for just 10 cents each. However, it resulted in drunk fans storming the field and a mass riot breaking out. 

The Cleveland Indians’ ill-fated Ten-Cent Beer Night resulted in a riot in 1974

A third concerned social media user wrote: ‘Genuine question because I have no idea: Rice is giving students free beer at the game….do Rice students party in ways that make ppl think this is a good idea? 

‘Because I know a few schools who wouldn’t DARE. They know the degenerates at their school too well for all that .’

‘I’m sure handing out free beer will cause no issues,’ another sarcastically agreed. 

Rice became one of the first universities in the United States to sell alcohol at home games when it started offering booze on its stadium menu in 2008. 

While many colleges have followed suit over the past decade and a half, offering free alcohol remains a rare commodity. 

In 2021, Portland State’s football coach Bruce Barnum promised to buy a beer for every fan who attended the team’s home opener. The promotion resulted in a 2,064-beer tab that ran to $14,448 out of coach Barnum’s pocket. 

Despite Saturday’s promotion, Rice will be sticking to its strict policy of cutting off alcohol sales inside the stadium after the third quarter. 

Dwan said that the university is ‘taking all the precautions that we normally do, and even more, to make sure that it remains a really safe environment.’

The average attendance at Rice’s home games includes around 800 students, according to Dwan. However, 2,841 students – out of an undergraduate student body of just under 5,000 – attended the first home game this season. 

Yet, the week before Thanksgiving traditionally sees a dip in student attendance, Dwan explained. More than 600 students on Saturday night would be considered a good turnout for the clash.