There’s a shift happening inside loanDepot park, and if you’ve been to a game recently, you can feel it.
For years, the ballpark experience has followed the same rhythm. Beer in hand, hot dog in the other, a shared sense of occasion tied just as much to what you’re drinking as what’s happening on the field. That hasn’t gone away, but in Miami, it’s starting to evolve.
This season, the Miami Marlins are beginning to reflect something that’s already taken hold across hospitality and nightlife, and is now making its way into sports: the rise of the non-alcoholic consumer.
Photo Credit: Miami Business
Inside the stadium, alcohol-free cocktail options aren’t treated like a novelty. They’re part of the experience. Just another choice, but one that signals a deeper understanding of today’s fan. Not everyone wants alcohol, but people still want to feel included, even sip by sip.
The numbers support it. Globally, the non-alcoholic drinks category is already estimated at more than $11 billion, with projections expected to exceed $30 billion by the end of the decade. In the United States, non-alcoholic spirits are growing at double-digit rates year over year, outpacing traditional spirits, which are largely seeing low single-digit growth.
That’s where brands like AF Drinks enter the conversation.
Known for producing ready-to-drink, alcohol-free cocktails designed to mirror the complexity and ritual of traditional drinks, AF Drinks represents a category that has quickly moved from niche to culturally relevant. These are not substitutes in the traditional sense. They are built for the same occasions, social, celebratory, communal, just without the alcohol.
At a Marlins game, that shift becomes visible, and increasingly, expected.
The ballpark is one of the few environments where multiple audiences converge at scale, families, corporate hosts, tourists. Traditionally, alcohol has been the common denominator across those groups. Now, non-alcoholic options are starting to play a similar role, expanding the experience rather than replacing it.
From a business perspective, the implications are real.
For teams, this is not just about accommodating preference, it opens new categories of partnership and revenue. Beverage sponsorships have long been dominated by beer, soda, and spirits giants. The emergence of more sophisticated non-alcoholic brands introduces a new layer of opportunity, one that aligns with broader shifts toward health, wellness, and moderation.
Photo Credit: Free AF
Free AF Drinks, the New Zealand-founded alcohol-free drinks company behind Free AF, announced a partnership with the Miami Marlins that will make Free AF the exclusive non-alcoholic ready-to-drink cocktail at loanDepot park for the 2026 season, across all 81 home games.
Free AF will be available throughout the stadium, with offerings including Paloma, Mango Margarita, and Apero Spritz. All Free AF cocktails contain Afterglow™, a proprietary plant-based botanical blend from New Zealand designed to deliver a subtle warming sensation that mimics the sensory cues of alcohol, without containing any.
“Stadiums and ballparks are one of the clearest signals that drinking behavior is changing,” said Lisa King, Founder of Free AF, who relocated to Miami in October 2025. “People are moderating, sometimes for a season, sometimes for good, but they still want the taste, the ritual, and the feeling of being part of the moment. This partnership is our boldest U.S. step, putting a real alcohol-free cocktail into fans’ hands at one of the most inclusive, forward-thinking venues in American sport.”
For brands like AF Drinks, the value is equally clear. A venue like loanDepot park offers something few platforms can: scale, visibility, and direct engagement in a setting where consumption is part of the experience. It’s trial at volume, but also something more important, cultural placement.
Photo Credit: Miami Business
The “sober curious” movement has moved beyond trend status into something more embedded in how people live. Sports venues, historically slower to evolve in this area, are now catching up.
In many ways, Miami is the ideal testing ground for this shift. It’s a city that embraces change quickly, where global trends tend to surface early and take hold fast. What works here often travels.
Which raises the bigger question: if the ballpark has always been a reflection of American culture, what does it say when one of its defining rituals begins to evolve?
At loanDepot park, the answer is already taking shape.
It’s not about removing the beer. It’s about expanding the experience.
