Outgoing Univ. of Texas Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa said that he "will not approve beer and wine sales at Royal-Memorial Stadium concession stands this fall," according to Brian Davis of the AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN. Sources were "stunned that Cigarroa was so emphatic." Cigarroa said he and UT President Bill Powers "agreed that we really needed more of an experience selling beer and wine at our basketball games, baseball and track and field." Davis notes it had been "widely assumed that alcohol sales were a done deal after school officials sold beer and wine at one women's and one men's basketball game last season before starting the service midway through the baseball season." Cigarroa said of the limited alcohol sales this spring, "There were no adverse incidents at all. 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." Davis notes alcohol sales on the surface "probably appear to be a no-brainer, especially considering that three other schools in the UT system have alcohol sales." Houston and Rice do as well, and SMU recently announced it "will have beer sales at football games this fall." Cigarroa: "It's OK to look for revenue generation, and I applaud [UT men's AD] Steve Patterson for that. My point is that for such a major decision involving the football stadium, I wanted more data on whether there were adverse incidents or not" (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 7/11).
CALLING YOUR BLUFF: Colorado Univ. AD Rick George said that there are "no plans to make beer and other alcohol more widely available in Folsom Field or the Coors Events Center on game days." In Boulder, Kyle Ringo notes alcohol currently is "only available in club and suite sections of Folsom Field and in an area accessible to season ticket holders at the events center" (Boulder DAILY CAMERA, 7/11).
