JJ Watt thwarted in attempt to buy every Wisconsin grad a beer

JJ Watt’s baller idea got foiled.

Watt appeared on “Green Light with Chris Long” and talked about the time that he wanted to give every graduating Badger a cold one when he delivered his commencement speech at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“I was talking to the university, and I really wanted to do something special and cool. I was really trying to find a way to make mine memorable,” Watt recalled on the podcast that dropped Tuesday.

“I was talking to the university and I was like, ‘This is what I want to do.’ Spotted Cow is the best beer in Wisconsin. It’s incredible. I wanted to put a Spotted Cow under every single seat in the stadium.

I’ll pay for it all. I’ll pay for the labor to put it under the seats, but at the end of my commencement speech, I’m gonna say, ‘Now, to congratulate you, reach under your seat and have a cold one on me.’”

Spotted Cow is a brew by New Glarus, which only sells its beer within Wisconsin state lines.

Nevertheless, the plan was shot down by the school’s administration.

“They were like, ‘Yeah, we can’t do that, legally.’ So then I tried, ‘What if I tape under there a gift certificate for one beer down at The Terrace [the open-air lakefront bar on the UW campus], and they were just like ‘We just can’t associate alcohol with our graduation.’

“It ruined my idea, but I thought that would’ve been such a bad-ass idea.”

The gift certificate would’ve been great, but it never would have worked to hide beers under the chairs — they would have been impossible to hide, and they would’ve gotten warm almost immediately.

Nevertheless, Watt remains certain this would’ve been a fantastic gesture.

“I’m still convinced this would have been one of the greatest commencement speaker moves of all time if they’d have let me do it,” he tweeted with a laughing emoji.

“(On second thought, maybe it would be 2nd place to that guy who paid off all the student debt.) (Yeah, definitely probably 2nd place.)”

Watt retired this offseason after a 12-year NFL career and is currently weighing his options in sports media.