I’ve been a fan of Sun Devil football for years, at least a decade before I started attending school here at ASU. However, I’m in a precarious position as a fan.
If I want to go to the game, I’ll have to deal with the fact that I probably won’t be able to enjoy a beer during the game.
Despite what I thought before researching this column, beer actually is sold at Sun Devil Stadium. Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware of this because currently beer is only sold in select sections of the stadium, sections that I probably can’t afford to sit in, like box seats.
I feel like I should be able to go to Sun Devil Stadium and be able to enjoy a cold beer without having to shell out the money to sit in a luxury seat.
The reason beer is severely limited at Sun Devil Stadium is because ASU, like many other college campuses across the country, is a “dry campus." It’s an effort to keep booze off campus to try to address the epidemic of binge-drinking in the college community.
In theory, it’s a sound argument, but I’m not really considering the logical points of it while sitting at Sun Devil Stadium, thirsty and beer-less in the third quarter.
At least 40 other schools have decided to start selling beer at football games. West Virginia University recently decided to start selling beer and wine at football games, and they are seeing as much as $500,000 a year in revenue from beer sales.
Even Ohio State decided this year to begin selling beer to fans enjoying a game in their stadium, with a large consideration being given to the possible revenue resulting from the decision.
For its part, ASU is at least considering the idea of selling beer in more sections of Sun Devil Stadium.
Earlier this year, Rocky Harris, senior associate athletic director with the University, said in a Twitter Q&A that ASU is considering expanding concession services at football games.
I reached out to ASU’s Media Relations, and Gerardo Gonzalez provided me with the University's current position on beer at football games: “Although we are in a period of experimentation to see what creates the best fan experience for our wide diversity of fans, there are no plans at this point to offer alcohol sales at Sun Devil Stadium beyond the restricted areas.”
I’m a firm believer that expanding beer sales will absolutely create a better fan experience at Sun Devil Stadium. It seems to work fine for ASU baseball games, which are played off-campus at Phoenix Municipal Stadium and can sell beer during games.
It’s a motivating factor in my decision to go to the games; as if free baseball wasn’t enticing enough, I can also relax and drink a cold beer during the game.
I’m 25 years old, so when I want to go to a football game, I don’t necessarily want to sit in the student section with a lot of people I don’t know. I want to buy a ticket and go to the game with a few longtime friends of mine. I don’t want to have to buy an expensive ticket just for the luxury of drinking a beer.
This is a predicament I think many fans could find themselves in, because it’s a lot of work to go to a game. It’s Friday night, and though you just got off work three hours ago, you’ve hopefully had time to go home, change, fight traffic to the stadium, pay for your ticket and probably pay too much for mediocre popcorn.
That’s a lot of things for someone to put up with just to go to a game. If it’s me weighing out all of those options in my head, watching the game at a bar or better yet, in the comfort of my home with a beer sounds a lot easier to deal with.
At least at home, I’ll have beer.
Reach the columnist at cjwood3@asu.edu or follow @chriswood_311 on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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