- Milwaukee bar-goers were disappointed to have to pay their bar tabs after the New York Jets pulled off Monday night's win.
- Jack's American Pub offered to pay the full tab of anyone watching the game as long as the Jets lost.
Before the New York Jets even made it onto the field for the 2023 season, a Milwaukee bar said they would pay the bill of anyone who started a bar tab if Aaron Rodgers — the team's newly minted quarterback who departed the Green Bay Packers for the job — lost.
On Monday night, everyone who showed up at Jack's American Pub was sure they'd be getting as many free drinks as they could stomach.
"People thought they were going to get free drinks for 90% of the game," owner Scott Schaefer told Insider on Tuesday.
That's because just four plays into Rodgers' career as a Jet, he tore his Achilles tendon, shattering the high hopes of many New York fans who viewed their new QB as the Messiah, but increasing the likelihood that the Jets would lose their first game of the season, which would secure free beer for all.
When Rodgers was carted off the field, the bar roared with cheers, not because they were happy to see their famed former QB down, but because "they thought their chances of free drinks had increased, so that was really exciting," Schaefer said.
Schaefer said that as the end of the game crept closer, people were "biting their nails" as the Buffalo Bills attempted a field goal that would tie up the game in the last second.
"It was as if it was a Super Bowl game," Schaefer said of the energy in his bar. "People watched that tying field goal as if it was their home team, everyone was rooting for the Bills to make that field goal so emotions were really high."
Even without Rodgers, the Jets miraculously clinched the first win of the season in overtime when rookie Xavier Gipson returned a punt from the Buffalo Bills for a 65-yard touchdown.
Much to the dismay of those watching the game at Jack's American Pub, they all had big bills to pay.
When the "Jets pulled it off, people were kind of shocked," Schaefer said. "Everyone wanted the Jets to lose so they could get free drinks."
The "season-long sports special" at Jack's American Pub agrees to pay everyone's drink tab every time the Jets lose in the 2023 season. According to a Facebook event started by the bar titled "JETS LOSE, YOU WIN!", all you have to do is start a bar tab 15 minutes before kickoff and watch the entire game from the bar.
As far as the rules, Rodgers must be starting the game, but the bar didn't specify how long Rodgers needed to play in the game for the loss to count (It appears as though four snaps makes the cut).
But according to multiple reports, Rodgers is out for the season to nurse his ankle injury. Schafer said they are "evaluating" how to move forward with the promotion, which was created to get "Wisconsinites that are die-hard Packers fans to want to watch Rodgers, [Allen] Lazard, and Randall Cobb, a whole bunch of Packers players on the team."
Even though Schaefer said that there were "no massive bar tabs" on Monday night because the "game was so close that people limited," Jack's managed to bring in about six times what they normally would on a Monday night.
"We don't know which direction we're going to go in just yet, but we're definitely going to run some continuation of this promotion," Schaefer said, adding that "the vibe was amazing" and that it was "a great event and a great promotion."