Ohio State will sell beer stadium-wide at Ohio Stadium for its football games this season, and though AD Gene Smith said the school will "benefit financially" from the move, it was done as part of a "changing landscape" across college sports, according to David Briggs of the Toledo BLADE. Smith said, "I never thought Texas would (sell beer). I never thought we'd be here. I really didn’t, because most of those other schools do it for the money. ... The main thing was providing service. When we discussed it with the Athletic Council, that was the main initiative: service. So we studied it, the council studied ... what Maryland, Minnesota, Texas, and everyone else did, and there were some positive things they found." Smith said it "changed our thinking." Smith: "Hey, if we can control it and do it in a way that gives good service for our fans -- which a majority of our fans want, though there are some who don't -- we'll see how it goes." Meanwhile, Smith said he could not "remember the last time" Big Ten ADs discussed expansion. Smith: "We kind of made a deal as ADs that, when we concluded the Rutgers and Maryland addition, this was it. We're done. We had obviously vetted everything possible, so we just said let's hold for a while and watch the landscape." Smith also said OSU's Covelli Arena project "will break ground" in '17. Smith said the $30M, 3,000-seat arena for the school's wrestling, volleyball and gymnastics teams is "about a year behind of schedule." Smith: "Part of that is the funding -- we've met the original goal, but the costs have gone up, construction costs have gone up -- and we're looking at a different plan" (Toledo BLADE, 6/19).
