Should universities start selling beer at college sporting events?

August 9, 2011 By 14 Comments

In this new era of college athletics, universities are beginning to realize that they need to do anything they can to make money.

A recent report by USA Today highlighted the fact that more universities are looking for extra ways to make money, and that includes schools selling beer inside their stadiums. The way college sports have been reformed recently (TV contracts, conference networks, etc.) has created a free-for-all to earn revenue anyway they see fit.

With the disparity of money between teams in BCS conferences and non-BCS conferences, selling beer is a way for smaller schools to supplement income that they would normally not receive.

Should beer be sold at college sporting events?

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West Virginia University has already passed a measure that will allow the sale of beer during home games this season and Rutgers is strongly considering doing the same. If West Virginia University makes a significant amount of money and no major problems occur, look for other schools to begin selling beer as well.

The majority of universities do not sell alcohol in their stadiums, but that does not mean that people aren’t coming into venues intoxicated for collegiate sporting events. On any given Saturday this fall you can find hundreds of thousands of people consuming beer before their school’s team ever takes the field. Drinking beer before college events is a tradition that has been going on for generations and is part of the overall experience of going to games.

Many universities feel that selling beer inside of stadiums will encourage students and fans to consume alcohol. Schools try very hard to limit the amount of alcohol advertisements that are aired during games and do not promote these products inside the stadiums. The reality is that most people are going to drink beer before and after games, and not selling alcohol is not going to stop them.

The sale of beer inside stadiums for schools is a great way to earn extra money for athletic programs that need to generate money any way they can.  Not every school has revenue generated from large television contracts or huge crowds and could use this money to keep their programs afloat.

The issue that will come up is the liability of the school when someone gets too intoxicated at a sporting event on campus and hurts themselves. Like every other professional sporting event, the NCAA can take measures to ensure that people cannot buy alcohol after a certain point.

Now that this issue is already being tossed around, there are going to be more universities that will consider the sale of beer at sporting events. If the NCAA and universities can come up with an effective policy to ensure people’s safety, then this will be a great way for smaller schools to earn more revenue for their athletic programs.

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* – College football game photo credit: Juan Villa via The Collegian

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Filed Under: CFB, Featured Column Tagged With: beer, CFB, College Athletics
  • KVB

    NO! I don't trust other people's tolerance to not act a fool. Alumni bring lots of little children to games and won't want to deal with alcohol belligerence in the stadium. It would cost hiring bigger police forces/excise cops as security. Sifting through the students' fake ID's would be a nightmare. Of course I'm a man, I'm 30.

    I am looking forward to how West Virginia's first year of this works out. I guess either way I can sneak in a flask in my long underwear. Go Bucks!

  • http://www.midwestsportsfans.com JerodMSF

    Erroneous! You don't actually become a man (at least not in a college football sense) until you're 40.

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  • Kyra

    Pull your head out of the sand folks; people who want to drink are already doing it, whether before the game and/or sneaking it in. I've been going to games for years. When they know they can't get beer during the game, people (usually 20 something year olds) are power drinking just prior to the game. They over consume beyond their usual norm because they want to sustain a buzz for the next few hours. Of course they miscalculate and they're billigerent. Selling beer on site might slow these guys down a bit, whether it's because it takes more beer to get drunk than liquor, the high price of stadium beverages, the long lines, etc. AND the school could be making money instead of Joe's liquor store. Prohibition was over a long time ago. Someone might want to advise the colleges.

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  • wILLIE

    If they sell beer inside the stadium they are opening themselves up for law suits. The US is becoming a country that wants to sue somebody for big money. To many young people are a long way from growing up and do not understand the problems that drinking causes at sporting events. I realize that many students can handle drinking but many can not. No beer inside. If a University decides to sell beer inside than I believe it is nothing but GREED.

  • James

    Pull your head out of the sand folks; people have been robbing others and murdering people for years, we should just step aside and allow it. Youre an idiot. You shouldnt be selling alcohol ANYWHERE PEOPLE CAN drive, not a bar, not a stadium, not a restaurant. The number of deaths and injuries, and ruined lives and families thanks to alcohol is pathetic and unacceptable. You will see a spike in DUI's/accidents around these stadiums no matter what you think Kyra, selling beer is idiotic, it should be universally and federally banned. It serves 0 purpose, and makes you dumb shit, yes I mean you.

  • Alex

    UNLV sells beer at basketball and football games. It’s generally not a problem at the basketball games from what I can tell (I go to nearly every home game), but the football games are completely different. There are numerous incidents at each game because of the alcohol being sold inside the stadium. Students/young-adults are binge drinking in the parking lot at tail-gate parties and then coming in and getting more drunk. It requires a very strong police/security presence in the stands just to keep order in Sam Boyd Stadium. And this is a UNLV game, so we’re talking only 10,000 people at most at a game (unless it’s Wisconsin and the Badger fans sell it out). Usually it’s less than that, maybe 6,000 to 8,000 people. Imagine a stadium packed with 80,000, it would be nuts. Actually just last season the university made the paid tail-gate lot go dry because of the incidents that occurred during the UNLV/UNR game. I think the universities considering selling beer just to make a few extra bucks are greatly underestimating the problems that accompany it.

  • Steve C

    Allow beer sales at the stadium under the following conditions: (1) Students in the student section (regardless of their age) can't have access to areas where beer is sold. (2) Card everybody under 45 or so. (3) Only sell through the third quarter at latest. (4) Don't sell to anyone who's intoxicated or well on their way, even if it's only five minutes into the game. (5) Limit sales per person per trip to three in the first half, two at halftime, and one thereafter. (6) Don't commission out the sales to private vendors, while prohibiting advertising. (7) Set aside a family section or sections where beer won't be allowed (no sales and you can't take it in from elsewhere in the stadium. (8) Sales are limited to vending stands, no wandering vendors.

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  • http://twitter.com/hotbutteredmess @hotbutteredmess

    I'm wondering about the legality of this. I mean getting drunk out at your car (tailgating) and then coming in to the stadium is one thing (I think it's pretty stupid actually. If you are drunk how are you going to focus on the game?). But if they start selling beer, you know there are going to a bunch of students running up there with their fake IDs. I can see the university being held liable if someone (underage) got so drunk they fell over the railing or had some other deadly accident (also, I'm sure a lot of parents might object to the university making it seem it's okay with their kids drinking…even though that is not the university's position…some parents are going to see it that way). College games are not like professional sporting events (some professional sporting places have even stopped selling alcohol because of all the trouble drunk patrons caused). I think you should take a clue from the places that stopped selling alcohol. This going to lead to nothing but trouble and lawsuits.

  • nick

    Why let Uni sell beer and make more money when we could just ask them to raise tuition?

  • Zac

    Don't forget to make all cars only go 65 because people speed and that kills people. Oh and don't sell guns cause people use them to kill people. And on top of that we might as well stop selling any medicine because people use it to overdose. Oh and i remember the time i fell down and bumped my knee when I was little cause I forgot to tie my shoes. Might as well make all shoes velcro from now on too. What about when you bit e you lip from chewing gum. OUTLAW that too. James you are an idiot. Probably dont have a job a collect unemployment paid to you by my taxes!

  • Jim

    "The reality is that most people are going to drink beer before and after games, and not selling alcohol is not going to stop them." "Selling beer on site might slow these guys down a bit, whether it's because it takes more beer to get drunk than liquor, the high price of stadium beverages, the long lines, etc." Now who needs to pull their head out of the sand? Don't encourage drinking.

  • Dustin

    I just want to say that the school that I support and have supported for many years has always sold beer at the games… my friend is one of the vendors down there. The main thing is no vendor is allowed near the student section and they do have to check id's… my case and point on this is even though I am 25 and graduated a couple years ahead of his daughter I still have to show him my id every single time I go to buy a beer and I don't get upset with this because I know it's the rules… if people can follow the rules of this they will be fine with selling beer at the games. The other rules enforced with this is when it's the third quarter with 5 minutes left they HAVE to stop selling just like at any NFL game.
    "I am looking forward to how West Virginia's first year of this works out. I guess either way I can sneak in a flask in my long underwear. Go Bucks! " – See and it will happen anyway even if they don't sell at the game and they cannot regulate it… I am not blaming you because just this past weekend I went to the Miami (OH) vs. University of Cincinnati (my team) game and was shocked that I couldn't buy a beer.