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- Portland State’s head football coach agreed to pick up the tab for fans during his team’s home opener.
- The total ended up being more than $14,000 in beer.
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Portland State’s Bruce Barnum spent approximately 7% of his yearly base salary on beer that he didn’t drink. The 57-year-old head football coach’s tab came after he made a promise last week in an effort to help fill the 7,6000-seat Hillsboro Stadium.
Barnum appeared on a local radio show and agreed to buy beer for fans in attendance at the Vikings’ home opener against Western Oregon last weekend. All they had to do is mention that they heard about the deal.
IYKYK. #GoViks pic.twitter.com/ZKyisqIZhJ
— Portland State Football (@psuviksFB) September 18, 2021
The pledge ended up grabbing headlines and reached international status.
Penn State coach James Franklin called Portland State coach Bruce Barnum last week to ask him about last week’s game-day beer offer.
Said Barnum: “It reached (Penn State)… it reached my brother in Tokyo, it reached my parents in Minnesota… it turned into a mini-Woodstock."
— John Canzano (@johncanzanobft) September 21, 2021
In Barnum’s own words, it snowballed into something much bigger than he expected. But he stuck to his word and will pay for 2,064 beers consumed at Barny’s Beer Garden during the game.
"It blew up a little too much"
Bruce Barnum is picking up the tab for more than 2,000 beers.
His offer helped bring in more than 3,000 fans to Portland State's home opener vs Western Oregon. Here's part of our Sports Sunday interview.#GoViks | @psuviksFB | @psuviks pic.twitter.com/5dmPfS7IXx
— Orlando Sanchez (@orlandokgw) September 20, 2021
Barnum’s tab totaled $14,448 for the day. Fans drank 786 Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPAs (which is so Portland) and 1,260 Coors Lights.
According to public record in the state of Oregon, Barnum’s yearly base salary is listed at $205,000 per year, but that doesn’t include bonuses and incentives.
Going off of the listed base pay per year, Portland State’s head coach spent 1/14th of his salary on beers for fans. Nevertheless, he is a man of his word.
To help make the lofty bill a little bit easier to swallow, the Vikings won the game 21-7. However, it’s hard to imagine that he will be buying beers for everybody in the near future.
Portland State’s first two games were road losses to FBS programs Hawaii and Washington State, but Barnum’s bunch was not blown out by either team. Barnum is in his sixth year with the team and will forever be a legend for this most recent promotion.