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SMU fans and students gather on "The Boulevard" before home football games, but many will never make it inside Ford Stadium. Would beer sales change that? (Staff Photo/Brad Loper) As much as I might complain about the price of beer at the American Airlines Center, its tough to imagine watching an entire hockey game without one. Or two. Ish. You might say the same about a Mavericks game or a Rangers or Cowboys game in Arlington. Beer, overpriced or not, goes with sports. This applies no matter where you might be watching, but especially if youre not at the arena/ballpark/stadium. So I forget sometimes that its much more miss than hit for college sports fans and am reminded only when I read that another university is considering adding alcohol sales to its on-campus home games. This came up at the University of Texas last spring, and now it appears to be a going concern here locally at SMU. Read more: http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2013/10/football-and-beer-seems-like-a-natural-even-for-smu.html/

It’s the season of college football, tailgating and game day drinking. Schools like the University of Louisiana-Monroe began allowing the sale of alcohol inside their football stadium this year, but purchasing and consuming alcohol inside Apogee Stadium is still prohibited. “We know that in the past four or five years a lot of schools have been allowing alcohol sales inside their stadiums,” Senior Associate Athletic Director Eric Capper said. “There is sort of a national trend to start allowing that. We are in constant consultation with university lawyers, the university president and board of regents members to determine if it’s a good situation for us.” Capper said that any institution or athletic venue that allows alcohol sales inside their venue has shown an increase in revenue. “The thing that we have to weigh is at what cost does that revenue line then impact negatively our fans, our students and the people that come to our game,” Capper said. “It would bring in more revenue, but we have to balance that with making sure that it’s a friendly and safe environment for our people to watch games.” Capper said the obvious safety concerns associated with the sale of alcohol inside the stadium include underage drinking and overconsumption. “Binge drinking is a huge issue on college campuses, and we want to make sure we are doing our part to avoid that,” Capper said. Vice President of Pi Kappa Phi and converged broadcast media junior Taylor Lindholm said that if alcohol were sold inside the stadium it would not only increase revenue but also attendance. “If you go to an UNT football game, you see a lot of empty seats,” Lindholm said. “The games are always exciting, and they are free for students, but this doesn’t seem to fill the stands. I wish it wasn’t this way, but selling alcohol at the games might significantly boost attendance and support for the Mean Green.” Alcohol can currently be consumed at The Hill, where student organizations tailgate before the football games, next to Apogee stadium. Lindholm said his fraternity tailgates before every game. “Members who are over 21 sometimes choose to drink. Too often people see the passed out, ‘frat guy’ stereotype, which I despise,” Lindholm said. “Football is like a religion in Texas, and tailgating is a significant part of our culture that UNT has thankfully embraced.” Alpha Tau Omega member and dance junior Christopher Lafuente said he thinks tailgating is important because it gives everyone a chance to get together and get excited before the games. Read more: http://ntdaily.com/university-weighing-options-on-apogee-alcohol/