Indiana Football crowds may increase with the availability of beer and wine.
Finally.
Indiana University announced today beer and wine will be available to fans attending football games at Memorial Stadium.
For decades, students and alums consumed beer and liquor with vigor before leaving their tailgate for the stadium. Many fans, already having a good time at the tailgate, would refuse to head into the stadium because beer was not available.
Alcohol and vigor should not be uttered together. Maybe this ends the impulse to fill the tank for the long game.
“Our main goals with this initiative are to enhance the gameday experience for our fans and reduce alcohol-related incidents in and around the stadium,” said IU Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass.
“While there will be some comparatively modest revenue generated by these sales, that is not the primary purpose of this program. Ten percent of our net beer and wine public sales revenues will be given to campus for alcohol safety programming,” Glass continued.
It sounds oxymoronic that alcohol sales would reduce alcohol related incidents, but any IU student or alum will tell you liquor is much easier to sneak into the stadium than beer, and shooting vodka causes idiocy. Beer is much more difficult to consume at a level that turns people crazy.
This change in policy may delay the typical halftime exodus to Nick’s and Kilroy’s as Indiana games plod toward an unhappy conclusion.
Something had to be done to encourage fans to stick around for four hours, and beer – even overpriced concession beer – is a great place to start.
This is a win-win-win-win, and if I think hard, I can probably come up with at least a couple more victories for fans and IU.
See you August 31st as the Hoosiers welcome Ball State – and some thirsty fans!