Univ. of Maryland President Wallace Loh the first year of public beer sales at Byrd Stadium has "not been going very well in terms of revenue," though he said early kickoff times and bad weather at several games has hampered sales. Loh said the "number of incidents, such as transports to the hospital” and arrests, have “gone down dramatically” among students. He said, "It is counterintuitive, but that has been the experience of the few other schools where it has been done. ... What people fail to realize is if you cannot get beer in the stadium, and once you enter the stadium you cannot exit, what are you going to do to get that buzz? You’re going to drink yourself to over the limit before you even come. So knowing that they can buy a beer -- and we limit it to two -- is in fact contributing to more moderate drinking. While admitting that UMD is not "making a lot of money," Loh said it was "not the purpose in the first place" of adding beer sales. Loh: "The purpose was to reduce unsafe drinking. That has always been my objective” (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/12). In Baltimore, Tina Reed notes beer "will also be sold to sports fans at Xfinity Center during the Maryland men's and women's basketball games this winter" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/12).
OHIO PLAYERS: In Columbus, Todd Jones notes Ohio State is "expanding alcohol sales at athletic events at Value City Arena, but the university hasn’t decided whether it also will increase the availability of beer and wine" at '16 football games. OSU announced that beginning with Sunday's men’s basketball game against Mount St. Mary’s, alcohol "will be available for purchase at athletic events throughout the arena, as has always been the case for concerts." The sale of beer and wine at OSU athletic events "had been limited to the club level since the arena opened" in '98. OSU "decided to begin selling beer and wine in limited areas of Ohio Stadium during home football games this season." OSU Associate VP/Business & University Advancement Xen Riggs: "It has gone extremely well -- I think better than we had hoped. The response has been very good." He added that there "haven’t been 'incidents of any significance' inside the stadium." Riggs said that the decision to expand alcohol sales for basketball and hockey games "was made after analyzing data collected by vendor Levy Restaurants, which has a concessions contract" with OSU (DISPATCH.com, 11/12).
