However, War Memorial Stadium has a strict policy against alcohol, not that it ever stops anyone from smuggling airplane shots into the games. Sure, they put police at the entrance of the student section looking for people carrying alcohol, but the fact of the matter is that people still drink.
What if the University of Wyoming sold alcohol?
There are evident benefits to selling alcohol at games. Obviously, the first advantage is the revenue it would bring the UW There is no way of saying exactly how much money the university could make on alcohol they sell at the games. Just south of the Wyoming border, Colorado State University sells alcohol at during their games at Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium. The beer sales at their games represent 55 percent of all concession sales at their games according to sportsbusinessdaily.com
If around 20 percent of the average attendees of War Memorial Stadium bought at least one beer in the duration of a game at five dollars a beer, it would create $25,000 in revenue for the university for one game. This would equal an estimated $150,000 of revenue for the season in beer sales alone.
The percentage of people smuggling alcohol would significantly decrease as well. With beer provided at the games, people attending the games will be less inclined to bring in their own alcohol. With a large majority of the alcohol at the game being hard alcohol, this could lead to less people being drunk in the stands. This would also allow the university to better regulate how much people drink at games.
However, there are obvious disadvantages to selling beer at games. The first would be that the sale of beer at UW athletic events may actually decrease overall attendance. The marketing for college football games tends to be aimed towards family environments and alcohol at games could potentially jeopardize attendance. UW wants to maintain a professional image for alumni and future students.
Another issue that may come up with alcohol at games is the need for additional security. As many of us know, people tend to do stupid things after a few drinks. If alcohol was sold at games, there could be a huge rise in arrests at games, drunk driving after the game, and underage consumption of alcohol. Though an ID would be needed to purchase alcohol at games, fake identification could be used to obtain it. Hence, additional security personnel to counter illegal conduct committed by people buying beer at games would cost UW more than what they would make of those sales.
The university is not going to budge on this issue anytime soon. It is a subject that many people are passionate about on both sides and its likely UW administrators won’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. The Branding Iron contacted the office of the Dean but, as of press time, didn’t receive a response. So for all of you who still want to drink at games, you will probably have to continue smuggling in your drinks the old fashioned way.
What are your thoughts on this issue? Post your thoughts on Brandingirononline.info.
Mike,
This is an interesting issue. I sat down with Athletic
Director Burman in fall 2010 and discussed this very issue as well as the
socioeconomic division seen with the Wildcatter Suites (where beer, wine and
liquor are readily available).
I was told that they have analyzed this issue of selling to the general seating
population. The cost to retrofit the stadium to dispense beer, hire
additional security as well as having to increase the liability insurance would
negate any profits the university would see. Whether or not students or
alumni wishes to take that on face value is completely up to them.
With regards to the division of having alcohol in the suites and not the rest
of the stadium, I was told it boils down to money. They feel they would
suffer a loss in donations if alcohol was removed from Wildcatter and that they
would have a tough time selling the boxes/seats/suites in the Wildcatter.
When asked if they would be willing to have LPD or UWPD station an officer in
the suites (as is done in the student section) I was told no as it was not be advantageous
to the business that takes place up there. When I suggested a
plain-clothes officer to make sure there is no underage consumption or over
consumption of a driving party, I was again told no.
Thought this might be some interesting information to your story.