Beer and wine have been available at a handful of universities’ events since the start of the decade. The trend picked up steam in 2016 when the NCAA gave the thumbs-up to alcohol in venues by allowing the College World Series, played at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb., to serve NCAA-sanctioned beer and wine.
Today, about 40 schools offer “soft alcohol” — wine and beer — to the general public at their university venues. Some allow it venuewide; in others alcohol is sold only in premium sections.
What they all agree upon is that allowing soft alcohol sales at their university venues has improved the fan experience.
At the University of Maryland in College Park, beer and wine sales have been permitted throughout Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium for football and the Xfinity Center for basketball since 2016.
“The reason we started was twofold,” said Joe Mullineaux, senior associate director of dining services. “Research has proved that allowing alcohol in the venue cuts down on pregame drinking and tailgating, and lowers the amount of alcohol-related incidents on game day.”
The number of DUIs in the surrounding area in the 24-hour period before dropped to zero while the number of alcohol-induced occurrences was cut in half based on arrest records, he said.
To buy beer there are age checks for anyone who appears to be under the age of 40. Vertical ID’s (signifying the holder is not under 21) are not accepted nor are any non-U.S. IDs. “We’d rather turn away an eligible drinker than take a chance,” he said.
Alcohol is not sold in any of the student sections. There’s a limit of one drink per person for each transaction. “My concessions people disagree because of all the grief they get, but I think the one thing we did to minimize any issues is our ‘one drink per trip to the bar’ policy,” he said. Maryland Dining, the university’s in-house foodservice group, handles concessions.
All of those who touch or serve alcohol and their supervisors must take a course and be certified by the alcohol awareness program Training for Intervention Procedures, or TIPS. To date, the university has certified 1,800 people.
Every point-of-sale has a black-light pen to detect fraudulent IDs and scanners that scan every ID. In-house alcohol beverage control officers assist and monitor the stands, aided by a uniformed police officer for every section.
Underage student drinkers are permanently expelled from the venue and sent to the police. The office of student conduct is also notified.
Sales are strong at the home of the Terrapins. “The original goal was to sell one beer for every 1 1/2 non-student-occupied seats in the venue,” Mullineaux said. “We’ve achieved that.”
“We didn’t do this to make a profit,” he said. “One hundred percent of the profit goes to the president’s office except for a yearly $200,000 donation to Terps After Dark, a program that gives new students alternatives to going to bars.”
Alcohol has been available in the Alamodome during University of San Antonio football games since the contract between the independent venue and the university took effect in 2011. “Roughly 20 percent of the fans are students,” said Nick Langella, the stadium’s general manager. “Eighty percent of the people in the stands are not students. They are reasonable adults, of drinking age, who would like to have a beverage.”
“We haven’t had any problem with it,” he said. “Our concessionaire, Savor, is in charge of making sure the alcohol sales follow the policies.”
Enforcement officers from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission are on hand for every event. “The kids are respectful and want the experience to be great for everyone,” Langella said. “The university has a zero-tolerance alcohol policy for minors and if we find someone underage drinking, we turn them over to the police. It doesn’t happen very often.”
Langella said alcohol beverages are roughly 20 percent of the food and beverage grosses.
“Everybody is on board with it,” said Langella. “The concessionaire, the building, as well as the university, we all want to make sure the environment is right.”
At Indiana University venues, soft beverage alcohol sales have been allowed in the auditorium at performing arts and entertainment events for the last two years.
“It’s been a positive experience and a benefit from the guest perspective,” said Doug Booher, executive director of university events.
Booher said the program’s success was built on “getting all the stakeholders involved, gathering input and rolling it out effectively.”
On a few occasions, a patron has been overserved and personnel have had to deal with that and learn from it, he acknowledged, but after the learning curve, incidents were down to .01 percent— two people — out of 120 events.
Sodexo is the concessionaire at the university. “They are great partners and make sure the operation runs smoothly,” he said. Sodexo also provides training for anyone who will be serving over-21 drinks.
Grosses and per caps are up significantly. “This provides additional revenue for the university, but, by and large, the change was made to accommodate the thousands of fans who told us they wanted to enjoy a glass of wine or have a beer when they came here,” he said.
There are rules in place to keep the alcohol flow at a minimum and there are things the venue can do to manipulate availability. “It’s two drinks per person,” Booher said.
There are also guidelines that can change from show to show, he explained. “At student-heavy events we can ask for two pieces of ID; we can switch from 16-ounce cups to 12-ounce cups; and we can limit the number of points-of-sale that are open.”
“It’s been a net positive from a fan experience perspective and a revenue perspective,” he said.
With the program going so well at the auditorium, there’s been a lot of discussion about expanding it to the football stadium.
“It’s being reviewed; it’s a growing trend and our peers are moving toward it,” Booher said.
At the University of Illinois’ State Farm Center in Champaign, beer and wine have been available at performing arts events since 2009. Since a massive $170 million renovation in 2016, the alcohol program has been expanded to premium services areas, suites and clubs.
“It was a matter of staying competitive,” said Kevin Ullestad, the arena’s director. “There was an expectation from the fans. Agents [and] promoters wanted it, and we had artists say they wouldn’t play the facility unless we allowed beer and wine.”
“There have been no issues,” he said. “We’ve had fewer alcohol-related incidents than before we opened the bars. The fans were tailgating in the parking lot, binge drinking, and they’d come in drunk and we’d have to deal with that inside the facility. Now we’re able to manage the crowd rather than react to it.”
Ullestad’s venues also have restrictions. “We ID anyone who looks under 35, and if we catch anyone drinking underage we will deal with it with authoritative interaction.” Sodexo has the concessions account at Illinois.
Allowing beer and wine in the venue has expanded the revenue, but it doesn’t come without its obligations, Ullestad said. “There are revenue advantages, but there are new security expenses that come with it, too.”
At the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the University of Southern California Trojans play their home games, beer and wine are allowed only in the suites. “Suite service started in 2013,” said Joe Furin, general manager of the L.A. Coliseum. “You have to be a member to get into the clubs. The ban for the fans in the stands has been in place for decades.”
For football, this past season, USC averaged 72,683 fans at seven home games. Student attendance was generally 7,000 to 8,000, according to Tim Tessalone, USC sports information director. Legends handles concessions for USC at the coliseum.
“There’s continual discussion about changing the policy,” Furin said. “But there’s a lot of ‘That’s the way it’s always been’ and a lot of resistance. We continue to want to serve the fans, and alcohol use is something that always comes up. So never say never.”