[NU Sports] Alcohol

[Jonathan Hodges]

This issue came up during the summer when Minnesota made the decision.

There is a Big Ten rule that prohibits selling alcohol in on-campus
stadiums.  When Minnesota was in the Metrodome, they could obviously avoid
that rule.

Note that other conferences and bowl games vary in terms of alcohol
policies.  One interesting story is that Memphis, who play in the off-campus
Liberty Bowl Stadium, normally prohibit alcohol sales during games, but
allowed it for their first game of the year against SEC member Mississippi,
and consequently racked up a ton of additional revenue from alcohol sales.

Back to the Big Ten, I believe some stadiums offer complimentary alcohol in
some luxury boxes (since the tenants have already forked over a ton of cash)
in order to get around the rule.  I can't remember exactly where I read that
and I also don't remember exactly which schools do that.  I vaguely recall
that Michigan may be one of them with their newly opened luxury boxes this
season.

On an associated note, here's a recent ESPN article on rowdy fan behavior
and how some schools have responded:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=4603176
Also, earlier this year, the Iowa AD wrote an open letter to all fans trying
to get better fan behavior after he ran into some trouble during tailgating.

It's interesting to see how much rowdier fans are at all sporting events now
than even a decade or so ago and the difference is even larger when one
looks back further.  And now tailgating and alcohol are directly linked with
such events, particularly college football.  For the vast majority of fans,
it's not an issue, but there are always people who can't handle themselves
and that has led to more and more incidents.  (Remember those Iowa fans who
committed adultery in a men's bathroom last year in the Metrodome?)

Jonathan

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 2:28 PM, <cherron604 at aol.com> wrote:

>
> Lots of talk this afternoon on Minnesota sports-talk KFAN, a lot of it
> seemingly based on this from WCCO:
>
> http://wcco.com/sports/alcohol.suites.gophers.2.1311465.html
>
> Most callers seemed horrified that they couldn't drink at TCF Bank stadium,
> the Williams Arena or the ice hockey venue.  It sounded like liquor had been
> available to club and premium level fans at these other two venues.  It was
> going to be available for club and premium football as well, but was banned
> instead at all 3.  Some questions:
>
> - Do we serve alcohol at any of the premium seating at Dyche ?
>
> - I always thought Big Ten rules prohibited alcohol at on-campus venues.
>  Is that still true ?
>
> - I can't remember alcohol sales at any of our opponents stadiums (on
> campus).  Beer was always availiable at the Metrodome, as I recall.  The
> only campus stadium I remember with beer was the stadium at Cincinnati
> (Nippert ?).
>
> - I know that even if the Big Ten allowed it, Evanston never would.  So
> what led Minnesota to think they could serve alcohol ?
>
> - And is Lou Nanne implying that you can't do client business without
> alcohol ?  And if so, isn't that more of an indictment of his business
> skills ?
>
> Chuck Herron   Tech '85
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