BEER IN THE STADIUM

[Tx_Mustang10]

A few years ago, while enrolled, I tried to figure out why few of my friends attended more than one SMU game per season. Keep in mind, this is during back-to-back 1-11 seasons, but guys did not want to watch SMU lose each week when they could watch their hometown state school win. Also, it was the weekend, they were going to drink some beers with their football, and that was only possible in their [air-conditioned] homes. So after a few beers on the boulevard, they went elsewhere.

We are working on getting better and winning more games, but that, in part, will not happen until SMU can fill its stadium and make recruits want to play in front of us. It's a vicious circle, but if selling beer is going to put a few hundred fans into the stadium and keep others through the fourth quarter, it very well may be worth it.

A sizable percentage of Blvd tailgaters do stay on the boulevard after the cheerleaders' procession into the stadium, in order to have another beer. Nonetheless, I do not think that selling beer is going to turn into the 1930s PSA that some people are worried about, with unruly drunks growing violent and yelling profanities at babies... It seems most sporting events stop selling beer in the last quarter of the event; I imagine SMU would be no exception. I hope our fan base could drink responsibly, and I have faith they could. I know less about the guests from the Dallas area who may be tempted to come to a Saturday game once it caters to adults, but I am not aware of a systemic problem at Cowboys games...

While I am relatively doubtful that SMU will give in w/in the decade, I am in favor of selling beer at games (if it truly is legal--which I always thought was a problem). PK, I think it partially comes down to the fact that beer & football, beer & hot weather, and beer & weekends go together. Sure fans can have a few before the game, but games are long and hot--currently, we go and get a soda, but it's not like grabbing a cold beer. Besides, for us 'oppressed commoners' $8 game beers deter many people from having more than two or three--enough to stay refreshed on a hot day, keep a buzz going, and forget about dropped passes, for the time being.

[PonyKai]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/colleg ... reregister

College football’s frothy, insatiable thirst for cash is being tempted by a new source of largely untapped revenue: beer sales at on-campus stadiums.

Latest to publicly mention the possibility of wetting his school’s beak was DeLoss Dodds, the University of Texas athletic director who oversees a program that generated $163.3 million in revenue last school year. About $103 million of the total came courtesy of football. If any school or any football program earned more in 2012-13, it has yet to step forward.

Keep in mind that beer and other alcoholic beverages have long been available in private suites at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. Such is the nonegalitarian way at college stadiums and arenas around the country.

Beer, too, is often sold when schools play off-campus home games at stadiums rented for the day or the season.

And, of course, tailgates from coast to coast are famous for lubricating souls before they step inside a stadium, though there is no revenue from that stream.

But schools that hawk beer to the masses at on-campus stadiums are in the minority. There appear to be a baker’s dozen among 125 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision schools.

"We’ve had those conversations, but we’ve never gotten close to saying, ‘Let’s do that,’" Dodds told reporters when the issue was raised this month at the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament in Kansas City.

Dodds acknowledged he has discussed beer sales with Oliver Luck, athletic director at Big 12 newcomer West Virginia, where they opened the tap inside Milan Puskar Stadium before the 2011 football season.

The bottom line: Alcohol sales at West Virginia in 2011, its final season in the Big East, generated $520,000 in revenues. That may seem like a drop in the bucket at a school like Texas, but consider that the Longhorns’ stadium accommodates 100,000 spectators, 40,000 more than West Virginia’s.

According to Dodds, Luck told him anecdotal evidence showed that beer sales provide a safer environment than before, when spectators were allowed to shuttle in and out of the stadium, presumably allowing school spirit to be liquidly enhanced in the parking lot.

Luck also has been quoted as saying that police incidents inside the stadium dropped 64.5 percent that season.

There is the notion that in-stadium sales might make beer consumption easier to regulate. But there is no statistical evidence showing that stadiums where beer is sold are either safer or more dangerous than stadiums where only smugglers can imbibe. Nor are there studies that indicate how much beer is smuggled by fans into stadiums where it is sold.

"If we did it, it would not be for money," Dodds said, emphasizing that beer sales were not on an immediate agenda.

"If there’s a safety thing involved, we would consider that."

[PonyKai]

Detroit Tigers beer upgrades: New Michigan craft beer options at Comerica Park this season
http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/sports/basebal ... his-season

DETROIT (WXYZ) - Tigers fans who also happen to be craft beer fans have something to look forward to this season. Comerica Park has some fantastic new Michigan beer options.

The ballpark now has a dedicated Michigan craft beer stand. While carts around the park previously offered a few local beers, the options are really expanding for this baseball season.

The new stand is an impressive beer upgrade.

PHOTO GALLERY: Sneak peek at new craft beer options inside Comerica Park

"Every year we try to do a couple new things in the ballpark," says Michael Healy, vice president of park operations for the Tigers.

He explains the Michigan craft stand, "is going to have ten taps with local Michigan breweries." There is also a selection of bottled local beers.

The new stand is located behind sections 102 and 103. It replaces what had been a slider hamburger stand last season.

A sneak peek at the taps revealed tap handles for Bell’s Oberon and Two Hearted Ale. There were also spots for Founders All Day IPA, New Holland Full Circle and Atwater Dirty Blonde.

Read more: http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/sports/baseball ... z2PWUzlzXj

[ponyboy]

Love me some craft beer.

[East Coast Mustang]

Beer in the stadium isnt going to turn the place into Animal House with people suddenly stumbling and vomiting everywhere. It's somewhat cost prohibitive; the kind of people who do that are students who arent going to keep wanting to spend $7 on a beer over and over and over again. Also, they're sneaking in booze now if they're going to the games.

[Mustangsabu]

I am all for selling beer in the stadium, and there is no evidence that it will affect the game day atmosphere any more than there is that it will make significant inroads into attendance. Look at Rangers games. They sell beer yet it is as family friendly as they come, and when they are good they sell out, when they are bad, attendance is terrible.

I would just like to be able to sit in the sun drinking beer and watching my Ponies.

[PonyKai]

Just saying....the Det. Tigers implemented my exact idea. All I want is to, like abu, sit in the sun, having a beer, and watching football. Otherwise it's going to continue to be smuggled in liquor. HEAR THAT SMU, YOU'RE LOSING OUT ON POTENTIAL REVENUE. YOU AREN'T VACUUMING UP EVERY POSSIBLE CENT.