College football coach offered to pay for beers if people came to game - and was left with $14,000 tab

Last Week, Portland State University’s head (American) football coach offered to buy people beer in exchange for attending his beloved team’s game.

The coach in question, Bruce Barnum of Portland, promoted his proposal on John Canzano’s BFT podcast. “I’ve got to get people to see my kids,” he said of the PSU Lions’ lack of attendees. “I like my team.”

Then, Coach Barnum had a brilliant idea, making an offer no Portland (or beer) fan could refuse. “I’ve got a deal for you: Anybody who heard me on your show… just say ‘I heard Barney on the BFT’ at the Barney Beer Garden and I’ll buy your beer,” he said.

Once the game rolled around, the good people of Portland took the altruistic sportsman up on the offer — a whole lot of them. In fact, if we had to guess, we’d say it was about 2,065 American football (and/or lager) enthusiasts who enjoyed some cold ones at Barny’s Beer Garden, the in-stadium bar at PSU’s Hillsboro Stadium.

How do we know? We’d love to say we’re psychic, but really, Coach Barnum took to Twitter with proof of having held up his end of the deal. In a tweet presented without comment, Barnum displayed a receipt for 1,260 Coors Lights and 786 Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPAs, meaning that, in total, Barnum bought 2,065 brews for the spectators.

Barnum’s enthusiastic generosity burnt a whopping $14,448 (or 10,515 pounds) hole in his wallet.  And while that’s not great news for his bank account, the turnout definitely worked in his team’s favour: The Portland State Lions beat Western Oregon Wolves in a 21-7 defeat.

And that victiorious feeling is priceless. Just kidding! It’s actually $15,000.