Nebraska the only Big Ten school that doesn't sell beer at football games — for now

When it comes to the sale of beer, wine and spirits at Big Ten football stadiums, a familiar refrain rings true. There is no place like Nebraska. This fall, with beer sales set to begin at the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the addition of four new schools to the conference, and with Northwestern University working alcohol sales into its plan for a new stadium, Memorial Stadium remains dry.

Nadine Ault sells beer during Volleyball Day in Nebraska on Aug. 30, 2023, at Memorial Stadium. It's a distinction — along with being the only Big Ten Conference member that is not currently affiliated with the Association of American Universities — that University of Nebraska administrators have noticed.



"We are quickly becoming a club of one," said Chris Kabourek, NU's vice president for business and finance. "We need to ask ourselves why we're 1 of 18." Since 2012, when the University of Minnesota became the first Big Ten school to sell beer during college football games, more and more members have also taken a similar leap.

A vendor sets up a beer stand before a football game between Iowa and Indiana on Sept. 4, 2021, in Iowa City, Iowa. Iowa began selling beer at its football games starting in 2021.

Ohio State University and the University of Maryland turned on taps at games in 2016, with a larger wave of schools coming between 2019 and 2021, culminating in the switch being made at Michigan and Wisconsin earlier this year. NU officials have said a $450 million planned renovation of Memorial Stadium would have included a buildout of infrastructure that allowed Husker fans to enjoy an alcoholic drink during a game or other event. Last fall, former Husker Athletic Director Trev Alberts said that while the demand from fans for beer, an amenity they can get at away games, was growing, the stadium did not have the point of sale or Wi-Fi to handle it.

Husker Athletics has made two new improvements to the stadium over the last several months — better Wi-Fi as well as cashless concessions — which seem to suggest strides have been taken in joining NU with its peers. Kabourek said that as NU shifts its focus on how to move forward on the massive overhaul of the 100-year-old stadium, fans could see progress sooner rather than later. "There's a lot of infrastructure planning that needs to go in to be able to serve alcohol on gameday — that still holds true," Kabourek said.

"But I think we can bifurcate the potential sale of alcohol at football games that's not tied to the $450 million project." Both Kabourek and athletic director Troy Dannen see beer and alcohol sales as a new way to drive revenue into the Husker Athletics machine, particularly at a time when collegiate athletics is moving toward compensating students for their talents on the field. Last season at Pinnacle Bank Arena, Husker fans spent more than $936,000 on alcohol sales at men's ($833,078) and women's ($103,208) basketball games combined, netting the Athletic Department nearly $76,500 in revenue.

At Haymarket Park, where alcohol sales were approved for the final 12 home games of the season, the gross alcohol sales nearly reached $136,000, with NU's royalty topping $58,400. That revenue was put back into the baseball and softball venue for improvements. "Alcohol at PBA and Haymarket Park was truly more of a fan enhancement," Kabourek said.

"There will be an economic consideration when you talk about a venue like Memorial Stadium." Ohio State generated $1.1 million from beer sales in the first year it was allowed, which it used to hire four new university police officers, The Lantern student newspaper reported.

Turning on the taps inside Ohio Stadium, which has a capacity of nearly 103,000 fans, also resulted in fewer alcohol-related incidents inside the horseshoe, which came as a surprise to OSU officials. In 2016, Ohio State recorded 26 arrests in the stadium and 25 ejections, compared to 18 arrests and 85 ejections a year previously. A majority of those arrests came from students illegally purchasing alcohol, the paper reported, or legally purchasing alcohol to give to someone underage.

NU officials have said very few incidents have been reported at any of the venues where alcohol is available, whether they are Husker contests or at the University of Nebraska Omaha, where beer is sold at Maverick hockey games. UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett, who was president of the University of Southern Mississippi when the sale of beer and light wine became available in 2019, said the fears of fans becoming too intoxicated or getting violent in the stands "never manifested." "I think what it did there, that I suspect it would do here, would really prevent overconsumption prior to coming into the stadium," he said.

"People would be very responsible of their consumption of alcohol and would be very mindful of people who are around them and appreciate they have an opportunity to have it in the stadium." Kabourek said Big Ten presidents and chief financial officers have also reported fan behavior hasn't changed for the worse since stadiums started selling alcohol: "It's been pretty unanimous that fan behavior has improved at most of these places." Until that time comes to Lincoln, NU officials said more modernization and preparation needs to be done in order to roll out a new amenity for Husker fans.

"I think we are prepared to engage the board sooner rather than later in this conversation to see their appetite and where they want to go with it," Kabourek said. "It's the evolution of college athletics and I think there's more of a comfort level that this is going to be part of the gameday experience." Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.

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