They certainly have Oliver Luck, the WVU athletic director at the school. But whether his proposed changes are going to be Luck-y in the future is questionable in some people’s minds.
Just like a lot of other universities and communities, there is a big discussion going on about drinking and its associated problems. Currently there are no alcoholic beverages for sale in Milan Puskar Stadium. People drink before the game and go out and tailgate during half time and return inebriated. Mr. Luck thinks the sale of alcoholic beverages within the confines of the stadium, along with eliminating the halftime pass-outs – will “improve fan behavior.”
“With responsible serving practices and proper vendor training coupled with the elimination of stadium re-entry, we can control the consumption of alcohol,” Luck said in a statement released by WVU’s Sports Information Department.
On the one hand, maybe he’s right that they will be able to limit the sales this way, and keep people from drinking too many beers, losing their self-control and becoming obnoxious, and then driving home afterwards. On the other hand, maybe he just wants to make money for the Stadium and the University instead.
Other schools have policies such as these: the University of Connecticut sells one beer at a time per person until the end of the third quarter. The University in Cincinnati stops their alcohol sales midway through the third quarter. Syracuse and Louisville allow two cups of beer at a time, but stop their sales at halftime or during the third quarter, respectively. At Pitt and Maryland and Marshall, alcohol is only available to people who have the club and suite level boxes.
From mid-April 2011 to mid-May 2011, the West Virginia University Board of Governors will have to decide whether this will be a worthwhile change for the stadium. Arguments will no doubt range from “let’s keep it family friendly and discourage the rowdiness that comes from drinking alcohol,” to “hey, they’re going to drink anyway, so we might as well make money off of it, er, that is, control it.”
Does anyone ever think about the fact that college students customarily are ages 18, 19, 20, and 21? And although the football games draw parents and fans and alumni to them, they are primarily being played by, and for, the current student body. This means that fully ¾ of that student body cannot legally drink.
