SEC teams can now sell beer at games. How and when South Carolina might approach this

South Carolina can now sell beer and wine in Williams-Brice Stadium and all its athletic facilities. The question of whether or not it will has not been answered.

The Gamecocks and the rest of the schools in the SEC were given permission to take the step Friday when the conference announced a change to its policy that had barred the sale of any alcohol in public areas.

“The public sale of alcohol in SEC venues has been a discussion item for several years and there had never been enough momentum to change the policy until this year,” South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner said after the policy change was announced. “While we have discussed this inside the athletics department, now that the ban has been rescinded, we need fully to vet the impact for us with our campus leadership, including the President and the Board of Trustees, as well as campus, local and state agencies. We value the customer experience in all of athletic venues and will not do anything to negatively impact that.”

The conference made the change after a working group reviewed the issue. That group saw estimates that schools in other conferences that already allow alcohol sales at athletic events earned anywhere between “low five figures” and “high six figures” annually from alcohol sales.

“I said a year ago, if this was simply about revenue it would have occurred a long time ago,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said. “There is a need for responsible deployment. We will be monitoring this and be back in conversation after football season next year and after basketball season and after baseball season. We will see how that opportunity is enacted on our campuses and how our fans act and react.”

The new rule raises the possibility that South Carolina could sell sponsorships for the areas of the stadium where drinking is allowed, although those areas would be allowed in the viewing area of the stadium because the conference has a rule banning “forward-facing” advertising in its stadiums.

The working group considered allowing the sale of all alcohol before deciding to restrict sales to just beer and wine, Sankey said.

“We want to proceed carefully,” he said.

The SEC’s committee members also saw reports stating that binge drinking problems associated with football games were lessened when alcohol sales were allowed in stadiums.

Alcohol will be sold only at designated stationary locations which will not be placed in seating areas, and alcohol sales are required to be stopped at the end of the third quarter of football games, the 12-minute timeout in the second half of men’s basketball games, the end of the third quarter in women’s basketball games, the end of the seventh inning at baseball games and the end of the fifth inning at softball games.

One argument for the sale of alcohol has been it might reverse the trend of falling attendance at college sporting events, but Sankey seems skeptical of that.

“That remains to be seen if that actually promotes attendance,” he said. “Having been at certain professional stadiums it can become negative when not consumed properly. “

Suite holders have long had the ability to consume alcohol at collegiate games.

When South Carolina hosted the NCAA basketball tournament in March, Colonial Life Arena was the only venue to not serve alcohol. That decision came at a time when the SEC did not allow alcohol sales in general seating areas.

“The NCAA gave us the option to sell beer and wine in public areas and we decided not to do so,” Charles Bloom, South Carolina’s executive associate athletic director, chief of staff and chief commercial officer told Don Muret of VenuesNow.com. “We do not sell alcohol (in public areas) for our men’s and women’s basketball games. We felt it was important to maintain that consistency.”

Tanner echoed that sentiment in a March 27 interview with 107.5 The Game.

“That was the first thing we took a look at,” Tanner said. “This is not normal in our building. The NCAA will allow this. Do we want to do it? Should we do it? We spent a lot of times and went through tremendous thought of whether we should engage or not.”

There was alcohol sold in premium areas, Tanner said.

“I just felt that this is what we do on a normal basis, a regular basis. Let’s go with it,” he said. “A few people did complain about not having alcohol. By the same token, I got a lot of positive emails that (said) ‘We’re glad you didn’t do alcohol.’ Those things even out a little bit.”

This story was originally published May 31, 2019 at 2:17 PM.