Survey - 80% of major college football schools sell alcohol - ESPN

For many years, the booze flowed only outside of stadiums. Not anymore: Selling beer and wine inside college football stadiums has become the norm over the past decade, a way for schools to bring in more revenue and attract fans who might otherwise be inclined to stay home.

According to a survey by The Associated Press of Power 5 conference schools and Notre Dame, 55 of 69 of them — 80% — now sell alcohol in the public areas of their stadiums on game days. Of the remaining schools, some sell alcoholic drinks in nonpublic areas of the venue such as suites; others do not sell booze at all.

The University of Wisconsin is one of the institutions that do not sell alcohol to the general public at football games, but it will begin selling booze at basketball and hockey games this season.

«If our fan experience metrics increase, then it certainly warrants a conversation,» said Mitchell Pinta, Wisconsin's deputy athletic director. "'Hey, we did this at Kohl Center (and) LaBahn Arena. What would it take? What will it look like? Is that something we want to do at Camp Randall?'"

The number of schools willing to sell alcohol in football stadiums picked up dramatically in the late 2010s.

«Since the SEC made that decision, other Power 5 conferences followed suit, and we've seen an exponential rise,» said Adam Barry, a health behavioral social scientist at Texas A&M .

The AP survey found that 19 schools that currently are in Power 5 conferences began selling alcohol to the public during football games in 2019. Before that, just 20 such schools permitted the practice.

Since 2019, another 16 schools have come on board, including Michigan State, Kentucky and Stanford, all of which started selling booze in their football stadiums during