Sparta Praha soccer club loyalist Petr has been selling snacks at the Toyota Arena in Prague 7, where the team plays, for over two years. All during that time, Petr eagerly awaited every goal Sparta scored.

"The success of my business lies in the success of Sparta," Petr said. "The better they play, the more enthusiastic people are, and they spend more money at my kiosk, too."

More recently, Petr began looking to another incentive to increase business at the arena — the signature of President Václav Klaus on a bill authorizing sales of beer at sporting events. The amendment, attached to the anti-smoking bill, legalizes sales of 10-degree beer at soccer stadiums across the country. The new legislation overruled the law, adopted in 1989, banning sales of beer at sporting events. Although many soccer clubs ignored the legislation and allowed the sale of beer, Sparta and Slovan Liberec soccer organizations did not.

"I could only sell a nonalcoholic beer in here," Petr said. "Although even when [nonalcoholic beer] was sold, its sales could never match sales of proper beer and our revenues were therefore lower than they could be."

As a result of the ban at the Toyota Arena, Petr said, many fans would stop before the games to drink 'proper' beer at nearby pubs and then eat there too, lowering the profits of foodstuff vendors at the stadium as well.

"Once we're authorized to sell alcoholic beer again, our revenues could rise by around one-third," Petr said.

If President Klaus signs the bill, Sparta plans to enable vendors to sell beer within two months, said Lenka Raková, the club's spokeswoman.

Liberec is ready too, according to spokesman Lukáš Váňa. "Fans have been pushing us to do so for a while," Váňa admitted. Liberec chose to respect the ban on selling alcohol at games because the club often plays European Cup games where beer is strictly prohibited, he said.

"It'd be extremely difficult to explain to fans that they could buy [beer] at the stadium on Sunday [during a home league game] but not on Wednesday [during a European Cup game]," Váňa explained. However, even with the lift of the ban, beer will still not be sold during European Cup games.

Sponsorship pouring in

Gambrinus brewery, the first division's main sponsor, hailed the legalization of beer sales. "It looked bizarre that the league was named after a brewery and beer was not available at all the stadiums," said Alexej Bechtin, the brewery's spokesman. Legalization of alcoholic beer will deliver support to Gambrinus' marketing, Bechtin added. "It's good that we'll be able to expand our product portfolio at soccer stadiums," Bechtin said.

If beer sales are legalized at soccer stadiums, it could also entice more breweries into sponsoring the sport, said Jan Veselý, president of the Czech Federation of Breweries and Malt Houses. "Sports and soccer in particular certainly belong to attractive targets for [breweries'] sponsorship activities," Veselý said.

Zdeněk Mikulášek, spokesman for Humpolec-based family brewery Bernard, agreed. "Beer belongs to soccer the same way pubs belong to the Czech tradition," he said.

Mikulášek said that small breweries are likely to step up and support regional soccer clubs. Gambrinus has exclusive marketing rights for the first division until 2008. As its main sponsor, Gambrinus pays tens of millions of crowns to the league every season, Bechtin said.

Attendance booster

Reintroduction of beer at soccer stadiums could help rejuvenate declining attendance at soccer games too. Last year around 3,500 people attended games on average at Gambrinus liga.

"In contrast to England, where income from admission covers up to 40 percent of clubs' seasonal budgets, low turnout at Czech stadiums lowers the share to merely some 2–3 percent in this country," said Alexander Kliment, spokesman for Slavia Praha soccer club. Kliment insists that beer and sausages are a must for creating a friendly environment for fans. As a result, Slavia did not hesitate to offer free sausages during its recent Gambrinus liga game to attract more fans.

Czech Soccer Association general secretary Petr Fousek said soccer officials have lobbied for legalization of beer sales for more than two years. He said that the association agreed with the police that they would tolerate beer sales even when it was illegal.