“A drinking town with a football problem” is a jocular saying that has been printed on many T-shirts:
 
. September 1994 (Iowa State): “AMES IOWA A good drinking town with a football problem.”
. September 1994 (Penn State): “The drinking University with a football problem.”
. March 1995 (Iowa State): “A drinking town with a football problem.”
. October 1995 (University of Georgia): “Athens Ga, A Drinking Town with a Football Problem.”
. October 1995 (Buffalo, NY): “Buffalo—a drinking town with a football problem.”
. 1997 (Green Bay, WI): “A drinking town with a football problem.”
. April 1998 (Pittsburgh, PA): “A drinking town with a football problem.”
 
“Small drinking village with a large fishing problem” is a similar saying.
   
 
6 September 1994, Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette, “Assorted news bites” by Mike Deupree, pg. 2A, col. 1:
A T-shirt worn by a disgusted student summed up the situation in the minds of many:
 
AMES, IOWA
A good drinking town with a football problem.
 
Google Groups: rec.games.video.advocacy
Cinepack Question
Andrew K. Heller
9/16/94
(...)
Computer Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University
“The drinking University with a football problem”
 
Google News Archive
17 March 1995, Gainesville (FL) Sun, “Hoiberg lives All-America life in Ames” by Mike Bianchi, pg. 1C, col. 1:
At Iowa State, basketball has become the appetizer, entree and dessert. The football team has become so miserable that the hottest selling T-shirt on campus during the fall carried this message: “A drinking town with a football problem.”
 
Google News Archive
27 October 1995, Gainesville (GA) Sun, “Athens,” pg. 7A, col. 1:
At Lowery’s, where they sell a T-shirt that reads, “Athens, Ga. A Drinking Town with a Football Problem,” fans actually groan during the Series when ABC flashes up the regional telecasts for Saturday.
 
Google News Archive
30 October 1995, The Blade (Toledo, OH), “Yankee’s a winner as California girl” by Liz Smith, Peach pg. 1, col. 6:
Baranski is originally from Buffalo and she offered me this wicked motto: “Buffalo — a drinking town with a football problem.”
 
Google Books
What’s Important Now
By Bryce Paup
Sisters, OR: Multnomah
1997
Pg. 73:
It’s been said before that Green Bay, Wisconsin, is “a drinking town with a football problem.” I don’t know if the people in Green Bay drink any more than those in other NFL cities, but I know that out of all the NFL towns, Green Bay is known for having the most loyal, devoted, zealous fans around.
 
Google News Archive
2 April 1998, Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, “Letters to the Editor,” pg. A26, col. 5:
The city of Pittsburgh is a football town or shall I say “a drinking town with a football problem” to quote a T-shirt. What would we do without football in our city?
(Brad Scanlon of Wexford.—ed.)
 
Google Books
Bragging Rights:
A Season Inside the SEC, College Football’s Toughest Conference
By Richard Ernsberger, Jr.
New York, NY: M. Evans, Incorporated
2000
Pg. 281:
Sam King, a columnist for the Baton Rouge Advocate, recently summed up LSU football thusly: “Baton Rouge, it seems, is a lot like New Orleans: a drinking city with a football problem.”
 
Google News Archive
28 August 2000, Victoria (TX) Advocate, “Once male-dominated campus now has a majority of women” (AP), pg. 13A, col. 4:
On a campus (University of Georgia in Athens—ed.) once jokingly called a drinking school with a football problem, the change is even apparent in sports.
 
Google Books
The Fiske Guide to Colleges
By Edward B. Fiske
New York, NY: Times Books
2002
Pg. 264:
“Some people say Athens is a drinking town with a football problem,” says another.
 
Google News Archive
2 February 2003, Tuscaloosa (AL) News, pg. 1B, col. 2 photo caption:
Above, a T-shirt hanging outside the Alabama Express on The Strip calls Tuscaloosa “A Drinking Town With A Football Problem.”
 
Google News Archive
24 August 2006, Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, “The Morning File” by Peter Leo, pg. A-2, col. 3:
“Pittsburgh is a drinking town with a football problem.”
 
Google Books
Speaking Pittsburghese:
The Story of a Dialect
By Barbara Johnstone
New York, NY: Oxford University Press
2013
Pg 183:
blitzburgh: n . a drinking town with a football problem