The University of New Mexico announced on Tuesday that the athletic department has submitted a request to sell wine and beer at University Stadium and WisePies Arena.
If the request is approved, fans of legal age could be drinking an alcoholic beverage at football and basketball games as soon as the upcoming 2016 season.
According to the release, Hawaii, Colorado State, Nevada, UNLV, and San Diego state all have wine and beer sales in their respected stadiums.
“I believe that this can have a significant impact on increasing our attendance as well as our revenues,” Vice President of Athletics Pau Krebs said in the release. “In addition, it will allow us to be able to better control our fan environment. More and more studies have shown that making alcohol sales inside athletic venues has cut down on binge drinking prior and after an event.”
For the first time, the NCAA will be allowing beer and wine consumption at the baseball and softball national championships this June. The D1 board approved of the sale of beer and wine at the College World Series and the Women’s College World Series back in January, according to a report on the NCAA website.
“The expansion of sales into new points in our facilities was decided upon after a great deal of thought and deliberation,” Krebs said. “It will be implemented on a case-by-case, event-by-event basis, and monitored closely, but the thought process is that we would have sales of beer and wine for the stadium bowl for the 2016 football season.”
The Nitro Circus on April 22 was the test run for the beer and wine sales, the release stated.
The expanded license for alcohol sales has already been approved in alcohol sales at both University Stadium and at WisePies Arena. However, the license only covered the upper level suites at The Pit and alcohol sales were only permitted in the U.S. End Zone Club and Field Suites. This expanded license will allow potential sales in all areas of both stadiums, the release said.
Policies and procedures are currently being drafted in order to help protect fans from over consuming alcoholic beverages in addition to ensuring no individuals under the legal drinking age. Some of these implementations stated in the release are:
-Beverage times, including the end-point time for sales will be clearly posted throughout the event and at all sales points.
-Patrons wishing to purchase alcoholic beverages will need to show proof of age twice. Patrons can show their valid driver's license or NM Identification Card to get a wristband (No vertical ID's will be accepted). Patrons then must show their wristband and their legal form I.D. at their purchase point, at which time their wristband will be marked.
-Patrons will be limited to two alcoholic beverages per person per transaction. Patrons may return to their seats to consume their beverages, and four in total for any event.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
-All customers must show valid photographic identification to get a wristband, and to purchase.
-All servers staffing the individual points of sale will be trained in all state laws and regulations.
Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
