HARRISBURG — A $820,000 advertising campaign for the state Liquor Control Board that piggybacks on the Philadelphia Eagles is a "colossal waste" of public money, a legislator said Tuesday.
The two-year Southeastern Pennsylvania campaign features sweepstakes for 2010 Eagles season tickets, including limousine rides to and from Lincoln Financial Field, and advertising at the stadium and on Eagles' TV and radio shows.
"If it proves successful in driving more sales, we want to expand our efforts next year to include the Steelers, Pirates and Phillies," said agency spokesman Nick Hays. "Who knows, maybe at this time next year we'll have a Steelers sweepstakes, too."
Steelers fans were mystified.
"It doesn't make sense they wouldn't do something with both teams," said Gene Mann, 69, a longtime Steelers fan from Manchester, N.H., after tackling his first-ever Primanti Bros. sandwich yesterday in the Strip District.
But Anita McElwee, 53, of North Versailles doesn't believe public money should be spent on sports-related sweepstakes.
"It's a waste," McElwee said while shopping at Stan's Market on Penn Avenue. "But I'm not surprised they would do this for the Eagles. (Gov. Ed) Rendell is from Philadelphia."
Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery County, questioned the timing given the poor economy, and asked whether a monopoly such as the Liquor Control Board needs such a promotional campaign.
"I happen to think when you have laid off hundreds of employees (in state government) that having a monopoly advertise at an Eagles game is a colossal waste of taxpayers' money. They already control the market," Vereb said.
It's not tax money, said Hays: The advertising expense comes directly from liquor and wine sales. The LCB's $1.8 billion sales for 2008-09 generated about $495 million in taxes and profits for the state's general fund, Hays said.
Vereb said every dollar the LCB saves means more money for taxpayers.
Matthew Brouillette, president of the Commonwealth Foundation, which favors divestiture of state liquor stores, said he's not surprised the board has to spend nearly a million dollars to "try to prop up its communist-era operation."
Philadelphia-area consumers, he said, "have choices to shop in nearby Delaware and New Jersey, where liquor and wine is far less expensive than what is found in (Pennsylvania's) government-run stores. In addition, customers get greater choices and service."
Hays countered that LCB's "prices on many products are lower than New Jersey's and are very competitive with Delaware's, and our biggest stores have thousands more selections than comparable New Jersey and Delaware stores."
The Eagles approached the LCB about developing the marketing program after the NFL relaxed its prohibition on liquor advertising, Hays said.
"Philadelphia has the largest market in Pennsylvania, so advertising with the Eagles gives us unique access to customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey," he said.
Ed Fogarty, 44, of Pittsburgh's South Hills just shook his head.
"Rendelphia, that's my comment," Fogarty said.
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