In an effort to boost student attendance for one of its biggest matchups of the season, Rice University is giving away free beer to students of age who attend the Owls’ game against No. 22 North Texas on Saturday night.
Rice, an FBS school with an undergraduate population just shy of 5,000, will face its second AP Top 25-ranked opponent of the season when North Texas comes to town, and there’s bowl eligibility on the line.
Rice’s free beer promotion is just one of many initiatives for the game, as the school is also offering free t-shirts to the first 500 students, a $15 food truck voucher and free ice cream in addition to the booze.
“We’re playing on national TV, we’re playing for bowl eligibility, we’re playing a top-25 team in North Texas, and it’s the weekend before Thanksgiving, so a lot of our students are off campus already and heading home,” Rice deputy athletic director for external affairs and revenue Kevin Dwan told The Athletic. “And we just want to do what we can to encourage them to stick around and come out to the game.”
The free beer won’t be available at concession stands but at a separate kiosk behind the student section at Rice Stadium. It will be served in 12-ounce cans, which are smaller than what’s typically sold at the stadium snack bar.
If a student finishes a beer quickly, there’s no set time limit before they can return to the kiosk for another one, as long as they aren’t visibly intoxicated — something servers and campus police will monitor.
“It’s one beer per student per trip to the stand, so they can’t come up and get a handful of them,” Dwan said. “We’ve increased some of the presence with our Rice University Police Department just to help us monitor and keep everyone safe, and we have that every game.”
📢📢Rice Students, there’s no reason to miss the @RiceFootball game this Saturday! Free shirts, free food, and free beer! Cancel your current plans and join us at Rice Stadium! #WE #GoOwls🦉👐🏼 https://t.co/ouqJ0oB8z8
— Eric George (@EricCGeorge) November 19, 2025
Rice initially posted its promotion Thursday on X with a ‘Free Beer’ graphic and the caption, ‘Students drink free on Saturday,’ but removed the post hours later because it “lacked a little bit of context.” Dwan said each giveaway is typically promoted individually, but the beer post was removed “for precautionary reasons” so fans could understand the full scope of the initiative.
“We wanted to acknowledge the fact that this isn’t a standalone thing, this has been done before, but we also want to recognize that it’s important that folks have that context around it,” Dwan said. “So for the time being, we decided to take that one particular post down.”
This isn’t the first time Rice has run a beer promotion, according to Dwan, who is in his second season with the Owls. However, there have been at least two seasons since the school has conducted it. Rice’s home-game attendance has remained relatively consistent throughout the season, minus its home opener against Houston, when 30,116 fans packed the stadium.
One week after the 35-9 blowout loss to the Cougars, attendance dropped to 22,260, the number it has remained around for home games all season. The Owls’ season-low in attendance came Oct. 31 against No. 25 Memphis, when 20,197 fans attended. One week later, 22,671 fans attended Rice’s win over UAB.
Rice (5-5, 2-4 AAC) has had an inconsistent season with pivotal wins and some tough losses sprinkled in. The Owls won three of their first four games of the season but dropped three straight games after. Rice won a gritty double-overtime game at home against UConn, but dropped a top-25 matchup at Memphis.
