Good Question: How Many Colleges Sell Beer At Sports Stadiums?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- For more than 25 years, Gophers football fans were able to buy a beer at a game, because the team played at the Metrodome.
Since the Gophers moved on-campus in 2009, beer has been banned from sale in TCF Bank stadium. That may change on Wednesday if the University of Minnesota Board of Regents votes to sell beer at TCF.
So, how many other colleges sell alcohol on campus?
According to CBSSports.com, out of the 120 Division-I football programs, just 21 sell beer to all fans of legal age. Of those 21, just 11 of them are on-campus, university-owned stadiums (the other 10 are situations like the Metrodome where the college is a tenant in another building).
In the Big Ten, none of the schools sell in the general fan sections. According to the University of Minnesota, four Big Ten schools sell only in the suites: Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Purdue.
But when the Minnesota state legislature voted to let the university sell beer on campus, they required that the beer be available to all, not just the suite-owners.
Last season was West Virginia University's first season selling beer throughout its stadium. According to the Associated Press, that move brought in nearly $520,000 in beer money in the first year.
The U of M expects to make $1.5 million more next year, not just because of the actual sales of beer, but because suite sales may be more brisk. And prices will be at a higher point because people like to entertain clients, and have expressed a desire to have beer available, according to a university spokesperson.
