BROOKINGS – The sale of alcohol is coming to events on the campus of South Dakota State this school year. The SDSU football team plays its first home game on Sept. 10 against UC Davis and fans will be able to buy beer, seltzer and wine with a general ticket.
The South Dakota Board of Regents approved an expanded alcohol policy at South Dakota public universities on June 23 and the policy is effective at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year. Now, SDSU has to put a plan together for how it will sell the alcohol at the first football game at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
“Obviously now it’s about all of the organizational details,” said SDSU athletic director Justin Sell. “Trying to make sure that we follow not only the policy that was set up, but figure out everything with customer service. Obviously working with a new catering and concessions provider throughout our campus, but especially within athletics.
“Trying to get staffing lined up and how all that works just in total with concessions and catering operations on day of games. Obviously focusing on the stadium first, as far as getting things going for the first home football game and really trying to communicate that to people.”
SDSU has been distributing alcohol to fans in premium seats since the stadium opened in 2016. There have also been two concerts at the stadium since it opened and they sold alcohol at those as well. Sell said he thinks since staff has dealt with selling alcohol before, it will be an easier transition for them.
“Without a doubt [it will make things easier because we already have sold alcohol before],” Sell said. “It’s an operational detail for us. You know, I think when you have experience and an experienced staff, change is much easier to manage. And this is something that is common place, not only in college athletics, but in pro venues and community event centers [as well]. If you go concerts or trade shows or sporting events, it’s kind of an expectation.
“I think most of us have worked in and around these kinds of things. Sodexo, our new concessions and catering company, is very familiar with doing these things all over the country, so leveraging their experience as well, they can kind of help us with things that work well. Especially being kind of a startup and doing more throughout the venue.”
The SDBOR policy states that events with authorized general admission alcohol sales must have a defined start and end for alcohol sales. You cannot sell alcohol at the general concessions stand’s and there must be an alcohol free zone.
Sell said that they will likely have vendors with coolers at different locations around the concourse. SDSU will also be selling alcohol at basketball games this winter and Sell said it may be a little more difficult with the space at Frost Arena.
“The beauty of the stadium and the size of the concourse, that’s not going to be an issue. As we work through Frost and as we renovate towards First Bank & Trust Arena, trying to figure those things out will be part of our planning process. It will be helpful as we work with the design, but Frost will present its own challenges with a tighter building and a concourse that doesn’t go all the way around.”
SDSU saw its largest average attendance for football in school history last season as the Jacks averaged 14,166 people at each home game. Sell said he thinks the sale of alcohol for the general public will only make the gameday experience even better.
“I think [the sale of alcohol] just opens up another tool for us to enhance the gameday experience, and it’s for those that are interested,” Sell said. “Not everybody has to choose to buy a beer or a seltzer or a wine, whatever they want. I think it’s just having that option. And I think for me personally, we already have it in the building, so to allow your great season ticket holders, who have been a part of this thing for 40 years, they now have the opportunity as a season ticket holder to come in and purchase a beer if they like to do that.
“I think it enhances tailgating actually and makes the overall experience better, and we’ve seen that historically through all of the places in college athletics in the last five to 10 years that have gone to selling alcohol in their stadiums. The issues that we have, the ability to have it be more organized. Hey, we already police for it. You’re always trying to police people bringing it into your venue, so it’s not like there’s a huge additional cost to it. I do think it will help us kind of round that experience and do some very different promotions. I think it will be really, really positive.”
As far as drawbacks with alcohol sales, Sell doesn’t think there is any.
“I really don’t [think] there are any downsides. You know, as with everything, you have to manage to those expectations. You have to manage to your fans. We’re fortunate here because we have people that know how to come to games, they know how to enjoy themselves and do that in a responsible manner. In a polite manner and being friendly to their neighbors. The amount of problems that we have in a regular game or at the concerts that we had are very, very small anyway. So I just don’t expect there to be [any issues]. In fact I would expect there to be less issues, and there aren’t many anyway. So, we’re pretty confident that it’s going to be positive all the way around,” Sell said.
The home opener between UC Davis and SDSU is scheduled for 6 p.m.
