There has been plenty of talk of late about Texas possibly selling beer and other adult beverages during football games at Royal-Memorial Stadium, perhaps as early as this year.
With the 2014 season less than two months away? Never mind. At least for now.
Following a board of regents meeting Thursday, University of Texas System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa revealed that there will be no alcohol sales during Longhorns football games this year.
“Not going there,” Cigarroa told the Austin American-Statesman when the subject was broached. “I mean, we’re not going to do it this year.
"(UT President) Bill Powers and I agreed that we really needed more of an experience of selling beer and wine at our basketball games, baseball and track and field.”
UT experimented on a very limited with alcohol sales at some events in the sports mentioned above. From the paper:
Both Minnesota and West Virginia have sold alcohol at football games the past couple of years, and reportedly have seen a decrease in alcohol-related incidents inside their respective stadiums. Many other stadiums, including some in the Big Ten, allow alcohol sales to those in premium seating areas.
The Gophers plan to continue its beer sales, while LSU seems to be on the verge of joining the exclusive club. Fellow SEC member Arkansas announced earlier this year that it will begin serving beer and wine at football games. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Michigan confirmed in March that the Big House will continue to be alcohol-free.
"[T]here were no adverse incidents [at] all,” Cigarroa said in regard to the school’s alcohol experimentation this past spring. “But before we expand this to the football stadium, I wanted to make sure that we had more data and that we weren’t rushed into it so much. So we elected to postpone that action this year and revisit it this year.”