Study shows most colleges still reluctant to sell alcohol at games

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — WVU has been selling alcohol at football games longer than many major college football programs, New York Times writer Mark Tracy says most schools still are reluctant to provide beer at games.

Tracy wrote an article in the Times last week entitled “Cheers and Booze at College Stadiums” based on trends involving the sale of alcohol.

“Still only a small number of schools are selling alcohol to their general admission guests,” Tracy told Hoppy Kerchevel on MetroNews “Talkline”. “In other words, not those in suites or those in premium seats.”

Tracy thought that money was only a minor motivator for schools wanting to sell alcohol. He says it’s more about keeping fans happy and into the game.

“A relatively small amount of it is driven purely by the simple we get X number of dollars per year by selling alcohol,” he said. “What’s much bigger is the most valuable thing to an athletic department is an engaged fan.”

However, Tracy didn’t completely discredit the argument that selling beer at athletic events can actually cut back on incidents of drunkeness or belligerence, especially when fans can’t leave an come back into the stadium.

“I don’t want to totally downplay the safety thing. I am pretty convinced that the combination of selling beer at high price points and eliminating pass outs where you can exit and re-enter,” he siad. “I talked to one athletic director who said you could literally see people in the line to get back in at halftime chugging beer.”

Tracy said that smaller college football programs are more likely to sell alcohol, but except for in the SEC, most schools don’t completely ban alcohol.

“I think there’s some schools where (alcohol sold) will probably never happen to a widespread extent,” Tracy said. “Many more schools are starting to do it than ceasing to do it. I think one of schools ceased to do it recently, but there’s far more adding it.”





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