Georgia Tech will begin selling beer at home baseball games, part of a pilot program that will explore the possibility of expanding sales to other facilities in the 2020-21 academic year. The program, which will begin at Friday’s home game at Russ Chandler Stadium, opens the door for possible alcohol sales at Bobby Dodd Stadium and McCamish Pavilion. The athletic department made the announcement Thursday.
Until this point, alcohol sales have been limited to premium seating areas at both stadiums. It has long been a sticking point or request from fans in general seating areas to be able to purchase alcohol. In recent years, colleges across the country have become more open to selling alcohol at on-campus arenas and stadiums. Last May, the SEC lifted its league-wide ban on alcohol sales in public seating areas. Georgia elected to continue to refrain. The ACC has no policy regarding alcohol sales.
At least eight ACC schools reportedly sell alcohol in general-seating areas.
Tech’s pilot program was created from a cross-disciplinary working group that included representatives from several campus departments, including athletics, legal, public safety and student life. The group created a number of procedures to be enforced at baseball games. They include that purchasers must be 21-years old and have a valid ID, transactions are limited to two beverages at one time per person, guests may not leave the stadium with an alcoholic beverage container and alcohol sales will end after the completion of the seventh inning. For games at Russ Chandler Stadium, alcohol sales will be restricted to beer.
Should the program proceed to open up sales of alcohol for football and basketball games, it might help address the athletic department’s revenue shortages. The department is expecting to run a deficit of $600,000 for the 2020 fiscal year and the fund balance began the fiscal year with a deficit of $3.9 million. Alcohol sales could certainly be a viable revenue source.
