Beginning this fall, Indiana University (“IU”) will begin serving beer and wine during football games. IU joins a growing number of universities that have rolled out similar programs in recent years. IU Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass noted, “Our main goals with this initiative are to enhance the gameday experience for our fans and reduce alcohol-related incidents in and around the stadium.” The move comes at a time when gameday attendance has been declining across the board, with fans opting to watch from the comfort of their own homes. IU commissioned an independent study that examined the more than fifty schools serving beer and wine at sporting events, the results of which concluded that serving beer and wine at sporting events has helped reverse the decline in fan attendance and lessened alcohol related incidents in and around the stadium. For example, the study found that both Ohio State University and West Virginia University, saw a uptick in attendance and a considerable decrease in alcohol related incidents. IU will follow similar protocol as other universities and arenas which serve beer and wine, including maintaining a two-drink limit during each individual purchase, and ceasing sales at the end of the third quarter. Notably, IU intends to allocate ten percent (10%) of net beer and wine public sales revenues to their campus for alcohol safety programming.
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