Here comes the booze to your favorite stadium
I think my kickoff cocktail will be an Old Fashioned.
Alcohol sales at university stadiums in the fall? Michigan senator says it's possible
Lansing — Alcohol sales at university stadiums in Michigan could be just months away after a vote by a state Senate committee Tuesday.
The Senate Regulatory Affairs Committee advanced a bill, sponsored by Sen. Sean McCann, D-Kalamazoo, that would allow Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and other schools to obtain licenses to sell alcohol at their games for up to 100 days each year and at other events, such as concerts, for an additional five days each year.
"If things go well, maybe fans have beers in their hands in the fall," McCann said after the committee vote.
After being approved with a 10-0 vote ― representatives from MSU, Western Michigan University, Oakland University, Central Michigan University, Northern Michigan University and Eastern Michigan University were on hand, voicing support for the proposal ― it now heads to the full Senate.
For the proposed policy to take effect in the coming months, it also has to be approved by the full House and gain Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's signature. It needs two-thirds support in the Senate.
As it stands now, 11 of the 14 universities in the Big Ten conference allow alcohol sales, Marlon Lynch, MSU's vice president and chief safety officer, told the committee. The three that don't are MSU, U-M and the University of Nebraska, he said.
Lynch said his colleagues at other schools didn't report increases in "alcohol-related issues" after permitting sales.
Likewise, Fred Schaible, assistant vice president for government relations at Western Michigan, said the legislation simply gave universities an option. Universities' leadership would ultimately have to pursue licenses from the Liquor Control Commission.
"But we do expect most to want to do this because of the fan feedback as well as the economic opportunities that it has to support the athletic programs at our institutions," Schaible said.
No one spoke in opposition to the proposal during Tuesday's meeting.
In the past, Mothers Against Drunk Driving has criticized similar bills, saying they would increase alcohol consumption on college campuses.
When the Senate bill was introduced earlier this session, it would have allowed sales at only basketball, football and hockey games. Senators revised the proposal Tuesday to more broadly permit sales at up to 100 days of "intercollegiate athletic scheduled events," meaning sales could occur at soccer or baseball stadiums as well.
The proposal would allow alcohol sales to begin an hour before events start and end no later than the conclusion of the competitions, McCann said.
McCann said Michigan had become an outlier compared to the rest of the Big Ten conference and universities wanted to be able to sell alcohol.
"They think it increases the fan experience and that actually some people have come to them kinda puzzled that they are not able to do this at Michigan venues," McCann said.
When it comes to five days of alcohol sales at events other than university sports, McCann gave the example of a U2 concert that occurred at MSU's Spartan Stadium in 2011.
Likewise, in 2012, then-Gov. Rick Snyder signed a law temporarily allowing alcohol sales at U-M's Big House on New Year's Day 2013 for a National Hockey League Winter Classic game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
thanks, i hate every bit of this.
It's pretty easy to sneak in booze and this allows people to maintain a buzz with $15 tallboy beers instead of a pint of 80 proof liquor dumped into a big soda.
I wish I only paid $15 dollar for my last tallboy at an athletic event.
There's no reason to believe that this will actually curb the amount of drinking that goes on. It's simply another option for people.
Anyone who's been to a Lions game will tell you selling alcohol does not in fact result in less drunk people.
Think of how many more admin staff this will allow us to pay for!
excuse me, “smile ambassadors,” or whatever brandon called them.
A suggestion for the AD if this goes through: UM-branded Keystone Light, 12 ounces, $9.95.
Keystone Light? You want a UM branded version of Keystone Light?
Okay...
When Penn State comes to town, it'll really stick in their craw.
Happy Valley will no doubt have Yuengling flowing unabated
It seems that I should have included the <kidding> (partly) tag.
I'm thinking "lemonade out of lemons" here and trying to take a humorous approach. I'm not a fan of alcohol being formally introduced to the stadium [1]. But, if Michigan needs to keep up with the Big Ten Joneses, let's make some money. If people are willing to pay [2], charge premium prices for crappy beer. Find the optimum price point.
[1] Others have already made some interesting points in support of the idea. Conceded.
[2] Plenty of experience at MLB ballparks, etc. tells me that they will part with lots of $ for crappy beer. Putting a block M on the can will help. I'm sure they already sell plenty of beef byproducts wrapped in Wonder Bread.
Pennsylvania is the keystone state, PSU should sell keystone light. Pabst (go) Blue Ribbon seems a better fit at Michigan.
Bells, Founders, etc seem like a better fit for Michigan.
A better fit for sure, but too upscale. See my longer post elsewhere here. I suppose they could charge $19.95 for those. (If I had to buy a beer, I'd happily pay double for those.)
I mean they don't HAVE to charge that much, but I'm not dumb enough to think they won't. They do because it's a captive market.
No, they do it because fan experience has always been our #1 priority!
It would have to be Stroh's.
good call but i was curious and looked it up. sadly, stroh's doesn't really exist anymore.
i remember drinking cold long-neck stroh's, back in the day.
wiki link for the curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroh_Brewery_Company
At least you never needed to reach for a laxative!
granted i'm not a big drinker, but if that was what stroh's did for some, apparently i was immune to such a calamity.
i have a photo montage on my wall about my dad's 80'th b-day, and one of them is a cut-out from the freep, lo those many years ago, when he was a stroh's ad guy. they have his picture and he's saying, 'stroh's bohemian style beer. the only fire-brewed beer in america'.
and this is how stroh's will always be remembered by me:
my father's definition of "closed-loop recycling" was always a man drinking a Stroh's while urinating into the River
We may have to go to our friends up north and sell Labatt Blue light. Maybe include a few ice beers.
This link shows many locations where Stroh's (Shorts backwards) is sold in Ann Arbor.
I'm sure the stadium can find a few keggers/cans, at the local stores or the distributor.
Supposedly, Stroh's is still sold at Total Wine (there's one in A2). But, I'd be surprised if it is much like the original.
I had Strohs tall necks in a big ice cooler for my HS graduation party in 1978. After I pounded six of them, my mom decided to make me read all my gift cards out loud. That was super hard to do. I only weighed 150 pounds back then. She always got a kick out of it when I brought that story up it was very intentional.
Went to their brewery in Detroit on March 17th, 1983. Drank a lot of green beer. Had to be helped to the car when we left.
early surveillance footage from the stroh's tasting room
"It would have to be Stroh's."
Ah, the memories! If anyone can upload and then link to a rendition of Dick the Bruiser Band doing "After the Brewery on Gratiot is Gone," I would be much obliged.
Yes, Stroh's provided laxative qualities, but it tasted no worse than most of the other bulk-brewed lagers we buy en-masse. Drank said product to excess many a time in my adolescence.
This came out after our family left Detroit in 1984, but am glad someone made this available so we can still hear it now. I have lots of memories hearing classics on WRIF like "96 Beers" as a kid. I'm pretty sure I had a few pints of Stroh's ice cream as a kid as well!
This. I'm sure any of them would be happy to throw together a kolsch, pilsener, or adjunct lager with custom branding that wouldn't be cost-prohibitive.
Stroh's is obviously the answer, brewed right out of the Detroit river lol
That's what the fire brewing was for!
I hope they go with Bud Light and all the assholes get in their fee-fees and boycott the Stadium.
B1G Beer Stadiums (in order of capacity): Beaver, Toilet Bowl, Kinnick, Memorial (ILL ed.), Ross-Ade, Memorial (IND ed.), SHIt, Maryland, Huntington Bank, as well as the Rose Bowl and LA Memorial Coliseum.
Have Nots: Michigan, Memorial (NEB ed), Camp Randall, Spartan, Ryan Field
I always am befuddled by how Rutgers decides to accepts SHI’s naming rights deal for their stadium, especially in light of their program’s historic reputation, the area it is in, and the jokes about New Jersey as the land of garbage and land fills. What kind of judgment does it take on the part of the AD to not recognize that SHI is terrible branding and only invites further ridicule and reinforcement of existing negative stereotypes.
Then again, Rutgers gonna Buttger😂 Glad that it is good for a laugh!
Hey maybe we can convince SHI to do an another naming rights deal with Ohio State and rechristen it SHI Stadium (Number 2). I mean if the toilet seat fits, wear it.
McCann said Michigan had become an outlier compared to the rest of the Big Ten conference and universities wanted to be able to sell alcohol
Another word for "outlier" is "leader".
Or "missed revenue"
I was thinking about the same thing, and really wonder if the added revenue would move the needle for the UM Athletic Department. I would believe it matters more at a place like WMU.
The other thing I wonder about is whether it really will increase total revenue--or whether it will just shift the revenue from other concessions, souvenirs, etc. Another way to ask the question is how close is the AD to extracting the maximum dollar from the fan base?
I go to a lot of Toledo games and I would say it does make a difference for a MAC school. I will also say I don't see as many people pounding beers right before the game like I do at Michigan games.
Though we also have a larger football stadium than all of our conference rivals, so we may not have the same need to cash in on concessions.
why not? haven't heard of any increased incidents at the stadiums that have allowed this. The people who want to get drunk at the game already get drunk. Now i'll have the option to take the edge off with a $13 tall boy when we find ourselves up 10-7 at halftime despite leading 200-50 in total yardage.
Those halftime score and yardage numbers are triggering. If only I had a beer...
Freakonomics did a podcast on beer at college football games a year after West Virginia implemented sales in the stadium:
In its first year of beer sales, calls to the authorities related to public drunkenness on gameday were down 6%, and the number of arrests and charges (related to drunkenness) were down something like 20% and 40% respectively.
That was a comparison of 2 years of data in 1 stadium. I'd love to see that updated for all of the stadiums that have started selling beer in the last decade.
My question is will they sell Bud Light and if so, how many fights will it cause?
At $15 a can for that pisswater beer, not a lot of fights will be started because of being drunk.
yeah, i don’t think that’s his point…
I stopped drinking so it is n/a to me, but wow that is actually really a thing. I had to buy beer for a party over the weekend so.... Bud Light right? That's the move, that's always been the move. I get to Kroger and Miller Light is picked clean and Bud Light is just stacked to the rafters. I had not paid attention and did not realize that was more than just noise.
It's hard to believe so many people are that easily triggered and so fragile, but yeah, there it is.
And the same people who are so outraged by Bud Light, the ones wanting to boycott and cancel it, are also the same people who make fun of other segments of our population for being "snowflakes," for being "easily triggered," and for advocating for cancel culture.