How to sell beer without drunken fan problems

[10yrProject]

OK I have my doubts it can be done too, and I hate having to deal with drunks but I have a theory on how we might possibly find a solution that could keep every one happy and safe.

1. Sell Indiana produced "craft" beers only.
2. Only allow 7.5% abv beers or below. Don't think I've seen many higher, there's a few but not many.
3. Prescreen IDs at booths outside of the gates, selling a 3 beer maximum ticket (2 avaliable thru the 1st half & 1 during the 3rd quarter, last call being the end of the third quarter {good idea Fro}) attached to an IU designer 16oz mug that could be be marked, punched, or clipped each time you bought a beer.
4. Charge an outrageous amount per beer (which would happen automatically anyway)
5. It would be expensive but you'd get a cool mug, great beer, and a mild buzz depending on your pace and most would be happy, maybe... And the Athletic Dept. would make good $$ off it.

 

[crossfire74]

I've always said that you allow tailgating until 45 minutes before kickoff. Then you close the lots. Sell whatever inside. Beef up security. WIN!!!

I don't know why it is so hard for this university to grasp this. Every other school I've ever attended does this and it's fine. Sure there are always a few unruly drunks, but the VAST MAJORITY aren't.

 

[82hoosier]

I keep saying that one does't have to drink any more to watch IU football. But if Lagow goes down I will go straight to shots.

 

[Fro]

Some nice ideas in the OP. One could argue it'd be safer for everyone involved (presumably last call would be at the end of the 3rd Q).

 

[fpeaugh]

They can't sell beer because stadium is on campus. It will never happen because it can't. Unless NCAA changes the rules, which I doubt they will.

 

[TheSpa]

They can't sell beer because stadium is on campus. It will never happen because it can't. Unless NCAA changes the rules, which I doubt they will.

There is no NCAA rule that prohibits on campus alcohol sales. A number of schools currently sell beer at games, including several in the Big Ten.

 

[turney333]

They can't sell beer because stadium is on campus. It will never happen because it can't. Unless NCAA changes the rules, which I doubt they will.

The BT and most conferences strongly discouraged it in the past, but there was no NCAA or conference rules against it. Many schools sell alcohol at on campus stadiums, Minnesota, Texas, Cincinnati, West Virginia, I think 20 some in total in FBS. Now the NCAA has restrictions on NCAA tournament/championship events which have not been completely lifted, but alcohol was allowed at the CWS this past year

 

[Fro]

I believe alcohol is already available for the fat cats in the suites/club seating at Memorial Stadium and has been since the club seating was built.

When I went to the Big Ten tournament in Chicago a few years ago in a suite, there was plenty of alcohol available but your suite had to purchase it before the event started and store it in the suite.

 

[IU Scott]

I believe alcohol is already available for the fat cats in the suites/club seating at Memorial Stadium and has been since the club seating was built.

When I went to the Big Ten tournament in Chicago a few years ago in a suite, there was plenty of alcohol available but your suite had to purchase it before the event started and store it in the suite.

When I use to go to the 1st/2nd round tournament games at the RCA Dome they were not allowed to sell beer. For me I loved this because I hate being around drunk people who is only there to drink and not watch the game. I know I am in the minority but I would not allow any sporting event to sell beet at them. I never understood why people thought they had to drink to enjoy going to a sporting event.

 

[Monday QB]

They can't sell beer because stadium is on campus. It will never happen because it can't. Unless NCAA changes the rules, which I doubt they will.

There is no rule about selling beer at a college game....shoulda kept reading.... looks like my comment got covered nicely

 

[JohnRossEwing]

I know at Nebraska the people with skyboxes do this...

1. Package up their booze and fedex it to the stadium
2. The package is take to their skybox and left there for them
3. They get there and put it in the fridge and party

 

[TheSpa]

I believe alcohol is already available for the fat cats in the suites/club seating at Memorial Stadium and has been since the club seating was built.

When I went to the Big Ten tournament in Chicago a few years ago in a suite, there was plenty of alcohol available but your suite had to purchase it before the event started and store it in the suite.

It is available in suites at just about any school / stadium that has them. The Big Ten has elected to not make alcohol available at the conference tournament and championship game.

The issue at most schools, beyond local custom or state law, is related to who may sell it at concession stands. Many schools have arrangements with church or civic groups and split a portion of the sales in exchange for staffing the stands. Getting people licensed to sell alcohol would impact that in terms of training and expense, and that's been an inhibiting factor.

 

[sparkeyreturns]

I've always said that you allow tailgating until 45 minutes before kickoff. Then you close the lots. Sell whatever inside. Beef up security. WIN!!!

I don't know why it is so hard for this university to grasp this. Every other school I've ever attended does this and it's fine. Sure there are always a few unruly drunks, but the VAST MAJORITY aren't.

Louisville does it and it is horrible. Drunks everywhere. I would never take my kid to a Louisville athletic event.

 

[IUfamily]

There are enough drunks just from the tailgates. What's sad is some people can't go enjoy an event for 4 hours without alcohol. I have nothing against having a drink its the small few that over do and make fools of themselves.

 

[IU Scott]

There are enough drunks just from the tailgates. What's sad is some people can't go enjoy an event for 4 hours without alcohol. I have nothing against having a drink its the small few that over do and make fools of themselves.

I think it is very sad people needs alcohol to enjoy themselves

 

[turney333]

Louisville does it and it is horrible. Drunks everywhere. I would never take my kid to a Louisville athletic event.

Well, I think that's more a Louisville thing, they'd probably still be obnoxious drunks even if they didn't serve beer inside. Its more about the people than the fact that alcohol is being served. Been to many different sporting events in many different cities where alcohol is served, and the only place that I've personally been to were the drunks got even moderately out hand has been Wrigley, but that's more the neighborhood (seen worse things in Wrigleyville in the offseason than what happens inside for a game).

 

[Hoosiers Rising]

I like the idea of shutting down the tailgates during the game. Either your inside the stadium or you have to leave. I think that would encourage people to stay until the end and then continue the tailgate after. I don't have a problem with them serving alcohol as long as the prices are high enough to discourage overindulgence and someone is assigned to watch each section for trouble.

 

[fpeaugh]

There is no NCAA rule that prohibits on campus alcohol sales. A number of schools currently sell beer at games, including several in the Big Ten.

The BT and most conferences strongly discouraged it in the past, but there was no NCAA or conference rules against it. Many schools sell alcohol at on campus stadiums, Minnesota, Texas, Cincinnati, West Virginia, I think 20 some in total in FBS. Now the NCAA has restrictions on NCAA tournament/championship events which have not been completely lifted, but alcohol was allowed at the CWS this past year

Well I definitely learned something today. Thank you for letting me know. I thought only the schools who play off campus (Louisville etc) sold alcohol.

Seems like a no brainer to me on this. Keeps people in the stands and extra revenue.

 

[10yrProject]

It is available in suites at just about any school / stadium that has them. The Big Ten has elected to not make alcohol available at the conference tournament and championship game.

The issue at most schools, beyond local custom or state law, is related to who may sell it at concession stands. Many schools have arrangements with church or civic groups and split a portion of the sales in exchange for staffing the stands. Getting people licensed to sell alcohol would impact that in terms of training and expense, and that's been an inhibiting factor.

That (staffing) shouldn't be a problem. Just contract with existing "craft" breweries to provide there own employees to work the kegs and collect the cash. IU takes a 50/50 split or 60/40 if we can get it. /// Upland might be interested. Oaken Barrel and multiple other Indianapolis breweries might want to be involved. I'm sure there are many others I'm unaware of...///

 

[Chad_36]

All I would ask is they make about 5 continuous sections alcohol free. I haven't been to a professional game in years due to drunks. If someday Memorial Stadium does start selling booze w/o restrictions, I will forfeit my season tickets.

 

[10yrProject]

I think it is very sad people needs alcohol to enjoy themselves

Look, I'm with you on not wanting to deal with drunks. Not only are they jerks in the stands, you have to worry about them on the highway on the drive home too.

My thought is this: by limiting (as best we can) the number of beers available to our would be drunken idiot (I edited that number back to 3 with the last call at the end of the 3rd qtr{good idea Fro}) he or she will stay inside the stadium for simply conveniences sake and still "get their light weight buzz on" while getting less tipsy, and also keeping more butts in the seats and more cash in the Athletic Dept. coffers.

People are going to drink whether we like it or not. We may as well grab a modicum of control over the reality of it.

Now if they are smuggling in stuff to drink with their beer, well that becomes a usher/security issue, that their seat neighbors can solve if it appears to be a problem but most people who would pay top dollar for a "craft" beer or two aren't the type who would ruin a good "craft"beer by pouring hooch in it.

I know in my case I'd probably buy one just to get the mug, with a possibility of another in the 3rd quarter (depending greatly on the score at the time).

In a perfect world I'd say no alcohol inside the stadium but we live in a less than perfect world and we may as well deal with reality as best we can.

 

[BigRedFootballEd]

Look, I'm with you on not wanting to deal with drunks. Not only are they jerks in the stands, you have to worry about them on the highway on the drive home too.

My thought is this: by limiting (as best we can) the number of beers available to our would be drunken idiot (I edited that number back to 3 with the last call at the end of the 3rd qtr{good idea Fro}) he or she will stay inside the stadium for simply conveniences sake and still "get their light weight buzz on" while getting less tipsy, and also keeping more butts in the seats and more cash in the Athletic Dept. coffers.

People are going to drink whether we like it or not. We may as well grab a modicum of control over the reality of it.

Now if they are smuggling in stuff to drink with their beer, well that becomes a usher/security issue, that their seat neighbors can solve if it appears to be a problem but most people who would pay top dollar for a "craft" beer or two aren't the type who would ruin a good "craft"beer by pouring hooch in it.

I know in my case I'd probably buy one just to get the mug, with a possibility of another in the 3rd quarter (depending greatly on the score at the time).

In a perfect world I'd say no alcohol inside the stadium but we live in a less than perfect world and we may as well deal with reality as best we can.

I cannot drive on 37/69 while awake and perfectly sober. Can you imagine these people negotiating that screwed up mess while buzzed or drunk! Just my opinion, but beer sales will happen at MS eventually. Can you say M-O-N-E-Y. Maybe Goat or MTIOTF can chime in on the liability issues.

 

[82hoosier]

I think the drinking age should be 18. But it is not. Consequently to sell beer at what is essentially a student event does not make a lot of sense. Also the university has gone to some extent to make games a kid friendly, family event. Again selling beer does not make this a more family oriented event.

If alcohol will increase demand, why has no one considered serving beer at church? And last but not least, drinking beer does not make watching football a better event. On the other hand if one has given up interest in the game, then wanting a beer does makes some sense.

 

[TheSpa]

I cannot drive on 37/69 while awake and perfectly sober. Can you imagine these people negotiating that screwed up mess while buzzed or drunk! Just my opinion, but beer sales will happen at MS eventually. Can you say M-O-N-E-Y. Maybe Goat or MTIOTF can chime in on the liability issues.

I think they're driving buzzed or drunk on that stretch of road currently. I doubt stadium sales would change that in a material fashion.

From a liability standpoint, IU retains significant (seven figures) financial risk within their insurance program before it is transferred to insurers, and many would argue that they (technically) could invoke sovereign immunity as a defense, though that would be highly unlikely. I wouldn't consider it a non-issue, but they have far greater daily concerns from a liability standpoint than this.

But believe this: If they do it in Memorial Stadium, it won't be long until they serve alcohol in Assembly Hall or Kaufman Field, among other venues.

 

[10yrProject]

Well all good reasons not to. If we lose even one season ticket holder or even one family in attendance than I reverse my position.

My thought simply was that given the way it was set up in the original post no minor would have access to the beer and only a 4'8" 85 lb female would be at risk of becoming impaired after drinking 3 16oz beers over a 4 hour time frame. And if the beer is selling for $15 + @ I doubt many would be buying their total allotment of 3 each... The server would retain the right to refuse service to the obviously impaired also.

A 180lb male drinking 3 16 oz beers over a 4 hour period would normally have a B.A.C. Level of only .04... Legally impaired being .08, so that's a 50% safety margin for non -impairment. Even if the guy cheated and had someone else buy him a fourth one he's still at .07 after 4 hours and if he's that serious about drinking chances are he's got a higher tolerance than your average bear too and he's just spent $60 + and the mug fee ($20?)on only four beers! That's $80+! My guess is that most would opt for the 3 beers max or less. I'd imagine that the average would probably be 2 per person; those "craft" beers seem to me at least, to be much more "filling" than that watered down corporate stuff.

Now there's a billion different variables that could change that .04 number: health issues among others, but one would have to really work at knocking all three down really rapidly to actually get drunk off of three beers. 50% is a pretty decent margin of error.

But it's a really a non- issue to me. I only rarely have a beer when watching them from my home so I can live without having one at the stadium.

I just thought that approach might placate the tailgate only and/or have to leave at halftime to get a beer crowd (and they never return).

 

[BigRedFootballEd]

I think they're driving buzzed or drunk on that stretch of road currently. I doubt stadium sales would change that in a material fashion.

From a liability standpoint, IU retains significant (seven figures) financial risk within their insurance program before it is transferred to insurers, and many would argue that they (technically) could invoke sovereign immunity as a defense, though that would be highly unlikely. I wouldn't consider it a non-issue, but they have far greater daily concerns from a liability standpoint than this.

But believe this: If they do it in Memorial Stadium, it won't be long until they serve alcohol in Assembly Hall or Kaufman Field, among other venues.

Completely agree.....one venue will open the flood gates (so to speak).

 

[DANC]

Purdue sells alcohol at a party plaza on the south end of Ross Ade.

If they can figure out how to do it, surely we can, too. Although drinking is the only way one could enjoy watching PU football.

 

[10yrProject]

It's a non issue up there because in my experience they all behave like drunken bleepbleeps as soon as they get inside the stadium anyway so no one can tell the difference between those who are just impaired and those who are just bleepbleeps...

 

[jsenleo]

That (staffing) shouldn't be a problem. Just contract with existing "craft" breweries to provide there own employees to work the kegs and collect the cash. IU takes a 50/50 split or 60/40 if we can get it. /// Upland might be interested. Oaken Barrel and multiple other Indianapolis breweries might want to be involved. I'm sure there are many others I'm unaware of...///

Your thought is a good one but there's no way it would ever happen with any craft brewer from a financial standpoint.

It's all about how much a brand will pay for pouring rights at the venues. The MIllers, Budweisers etc. of the world have the dollars, and will spend them, to get exclusive pouring rights and signage at a college venue. Many times they'll split with a competitor just to be in "the game".but every brand that is served will have paid some serious dollars to be there. I think even the larger local (Indiana) craft brands, like a Sun King, would find it difficult to play in the bidding war that the major national brands would create.

Most Indiana venues will contract with a beer distributor who in turn divides it up among a couple of their brands but the importance of the college market and those venues is so great that I can see the national brands themselves working directly with IU just to gain some exclusivity. Now, the distributor might be allowed to included a tap or two of craft but they'd still need to pay a hefty fee with the distributor to get on the list.

Obviously, there are a couple of different scenarios that IU could play with but my experience in producing events and working with venues is that this deal would take too much money for the craft brands to even consider coming to the table.

For the brewers and distillers they see the college market the same as the Nikes and Addidas' - get them om the brand EARLY - and pay whatever it takes to be the schools brand of choice. So, the battles between the big boys will continually raise the bar and keep the small guys away.

I think we all would all agree that if IU opened their venues to selling beer the major brands would see it as a potential gold mine and they'd jump on it in a split-second.

Odds are, you'll be stuck with buying Coors, Miller, Budweiser or some other major brand and that will be the choices. It would be nice to a have craft but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[IUcolorado]

For the 1,564th time...booze and sports do NOT go together. For those that want it, ask yourself why you want it. Why must you be buzzed to enjoy something? All drinkers think they can drink and look cool. Wrong...keep it out of a family venue...period...imo.

 

[82hoosier]

I listened to a podcast last night where one of the guys said that at halftime people are starting to lose their buzz so they go out to the parking lot to drink some more. He also said the Marching 100 had to get better.

 

[Tony20]

To me I tend to keep issues like this very simple. Would selling beer at IU games be more beneficial to IU and it's program? The answer is yes.

More $ (which means we could hire additional security) and more fans staying in the stands. The two things every Athletic Department and Football program like IU needs.

 

[82hoosier]

Make your case about why beer sales would be so beneficial. Does IU currently need more security at games? I am not even in the same time zone and cannot attend games. Does the stadium even have enough bathroom capacity to handle beer sales?

 

[fpeaugh]

Make your case about why beer sales would be so beneficial. Does IU currently need more security at games? I am not even in the same time zone and cannot attend games. Does the stadium even have enough bathroom capacity to handle beer sales?

Yes. Capacity is not an issue at Memorial Stadium. It's a ghost town in there come the 2nd half of most games. The athletic dept needs to do something to get people to stay. Simply closing the tailgates won't work...people will just head for the bars. IMO you need to sell beer. Plenty of other places do it without problems. 99% of people will drink responsibly, the other 1% can easily be escorted out by security.

 

[fpeaugh]

For the 1,564th time...booze and sports do NOT go together. For those that want it, ask yourself why you want it. Why must you be buzzed to enjoy something? All drinkers think they can drink and look cool. Wrong...keep it out of a family venue...period...imo.

So you can't serve beer at a family venue? Nearly every restaurant serves beer, movie theaters serve beer, every professional sporting event serves beer etc etc. Are those not family venues?

99% of people drinking will act responsibly. The other 1% will be escorted out. And I'm one of those people who will enjoy a game without drinking, but the reality is with many (especially college students) they won't stay if they can't drink. And I think it's beneficial to have more people at the games. That's my take.

 

[82hoosier]

Most undergraduates are underage so I don't see that driving policy.

Are we talking about security or police? I went to a Bears game during the Super Bowl season. Okay, it was a preseason game and we were in the end zone. There was a group of people who were using someone else's ticket who were drunk and were being obnoxious. The security arrived and they were gone in two seconds. Okay that worked well.

I like a beer as much as anybody on a hot day. In November at the Bucket game not so much. I have my personal preference but I don't claim that it is absolutely correct. I don't want to drink during the game. I want to watch it and figure out what and why things are developing the way they are.

Do they serve beer at basketball games?

 

[TheSpa]

For the 1,564th time...booze and sports do NOT go together. For those that want it, ask yourself why you want it. Why must you be buzzed to enjoy something? All drinkers think they can drink and look cool. Wrong...keep it out of a family venue...period...imo.

I think it can be done responsibly, provided that sales are tightly controlled, security is highly visible, and any alcohol related misbehavior is dealt with rapidly and severely.

Major League Baseball is fan and family friendly, and beer flows like water at every ballpark. Their "secret" is that they sell and monitor it responsibly and deal resolutely with those who won't behave properly.

 

[82hoosier]

I am thinking about the George Carlin routine where he compares and contrasts football and baseball. There is a bit of truth to that and relative fan behavior. For instance, people don't tend to paint their faces for a baseball game.

 

[TheSpa]

I am thinking about the George Carlin routine where he compares and contrasts football and baseball. There is a bit of truth to that and relative fan behavior. For instance, people don't tend to paint their faces for a baseball game.

There is an obvious difference in the emotional level of the crowd, and baseball fans tend to not supplement their in stadium drinking with tailgating. Having spent several hundred innings in the bleachers at Wrigley, however, people do get their fair share at baseball games, and security deals those who don't behave (as they do at football games).

Wilson wants to make the games the most important part of game day, but he's fighting a culture that is well established and actively supported and encouraged by his employer. Even if they start winning big, it will be difficult to overcome.

 

[82hoosier]

If IU was to beat Michigan State I think the football culture would turn on a dime - for at least a couple of games