USC to allow alcohol sales at sporting events. Here are details, timeline for rollout
Expanded alcohol sales to the general public are coming in the very near future for South Carolina fans at Williams-Brice Stadium, Colonial Life Arena and Founders Park.
The new policy was presented to and approved by the University of South Carolina board of trustees Tuesday.
Sales of beer and wine will begin at Colonial Life Arena starting with women’s basketball games Jan. 2 vs. Kentucky and men’s basketball games Jan. 7 vs. Florida. The rollout will continue into both baseball and football seasons. The board’s approval permits alcohol to be served at all home athletic events, but athletics director Ray Tanner said the focus will be on the four major sports to start.
In presenting the plan Tuesday, Tanner suggested prices would average around $8 per beer.
The change comes exactly 200 days after the SEC reversed its long-standing policy prohibiting alcohol sales to the general public at sporting events on May 31, leaving that decision up to each university.
By September, seven SEC athletics departments announced they would sell beer and wine. But USC decided to wait, citing the need to research and review the potential impact of the change.
“It’s just a situation where it’s part of the fan experience. We’ve been studying for quite a while now,” Tanner told reporters.
At Colonial Life Arena, the infrastructure for beer and wine sales is already in place for concerts, making it easy to quickly implement the new policy.
Williams-Brice Stadium, meanwhile, is currently undergoing renovations scheduled to be completed before the start of the 2020 season. Those renovations will increase the number of premium areas where alcohol can be served regardless, and Tanner said Tuesday that the renovations will also “alleviate” pressure caused by the change in part by building more bathrooms.
Tanner later told reporters that some of revenue generated by alcohol sales might be earmarked for more restroom improvements. He also said the athletics department will increase security as needed.
However, Tanner said that in the course of the department’s research, they found alcohol-related problems decreased at schools that approved the sale of beer and wine.
“One thing that stood out mainly to me was, you’re always concerned about incidents if you have alcohol present,” Tanner said. “And there seemed to be a trend that the incidents went down. There’s a lot of reporting from different schools that they didn’t have as many incidents if they served and they controlled the serving.”
Regarding underage drinking, Tanner said the department has plans in place to limit the likelihood of students under 21 buying alcohol, including ID checks and security looking out for such incidents.
“We’ve already laid out our specific locations in our stadiums and our venues where we will serve. For instance, near the student section, there will not be a kiosk, even though some of the students are 21 years old,” Tanner said. “They’re placed strategically throughout the stadium.”
From a bottom line standpoint, Tanner said he was unsure how much revenue the new policy will generate, adding he hoped it would reach seven figures annually but was not certain, citing the impact weather, game times and the on-field results as potential factors.
“I think there’s a certain number of people that think this is all driven by money, which is not the case,” Tanner said. “We hope certainly it’ll be positive in the revenue category, but it’s not going to be a number that is earth-shattering to the bottom line of the athletics department.”
The following rules will be in place for alcohol sales, according to a university press release:
▪ Alcoholic beverages are to be sold and dispensed only at designated stationary locations
▪ Alcoholic beverages may not be sold by vendors within the seating areas;
▪ Identification check is required at every point of sale to prevent sales to minors
▪ Alcoholic beverage sales are limited to beer and wine only (no hard liquor or mixed drinks may be sold in public seating areas)
▪ Limits must be established on the number of drinks purchased at one time by an individual
▪ Alcohol must be dispensed into cups
▪ Safe-server training and additional training for staff to handle high-risk situations is required
▪ Designated stop times for sale and/or distribution of alcohol must be enforced as follows for these home athletics events: football, end of 3rd quarter; men’s basketball, second half 12-minute TV timeout; women’s basketball, end of 3rd quarter; baseball, end of the top of 7th inning.
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 12:54 PM.
