Alcohol sales permitted at Michigan's public university games, matches

May 24, 2023

Crack open a beer inside the Big House at the home opener this fall?

Maybe, maybe not.

Michigan's biggest campuses are keeping their game-time drinking decisions close to the vest on the day Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill allowing alcohol sales at the state's 15 public universities' football, hockey and basketball games. The move potentially opens the door for legal, in-stadium drinking by tens of thousands of already enthusiastic fans.

Senate Bill 247, introduced by state Sen. Sean McCann, D-Kalamazoo, allows for the licensing of all Michigan public universities to sell alcohol at select games, with sales being permitted an hour before kickoff, tipoff and puck drop, and ending with the game.

Michelle Hodges, of Grosse Pointe Park, who graduated from Michigan State University in 1990, said she was excited to learn about the booze-rule change at Spartan sporting events.

"It seems unfair not to allow it. People sneak it in anyway," said Hodges, who believes the key is self-control.

"Personal responsibility is an important skill, and it applies here. Those who choose to behave responsibly should be allowed to partake," Hodges said.

"And for those who choose not to," she added, "I assume the university will implement the appropriate measures that ensure a good experience for all.”

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Schools will now be allowed to apply for licenses for 100 total days of alcohol sales during a calendar year.

"Authorizing the legal sale of alcohol at sporting events will bring us on equal footing with other universities, help reduce the likelihood of binge drinking before games, and bring in a heck of a lot more revenue that we can use to improve the student experience," Whitmer, a Democrat, said in a statement. "I am proud that we are getting this done and making fall evenings at Spartan Stadium or the Big House safer and more fun."

But many questions remain: Will alcohol sales be available by the first home games to kick off the college football season? Will there be a limit on the number of drinks a patron can buy? What’s the protocol for cutting intoxicated people off? Who will be in charge of checking IDs and making sure beer purchases aren't passed to minors? Will universities serve all different kinds of alcohol — beer, wine and mixed drinks?

And key to many students' party time: Will drinking games be allowed?

In many ways, sober stadiums — well, at least, technically and officially alcohol-free, but of course, not really — in Michigan have been an outlier in big-time college sports.

Today, 11 of the 12 other Big Ten schools allow alcohol sales at football games, with Nebraska being the lone exception still prohibiting sales, according to Front Office Sports. USC and UCLA, two schools joining the Big Ten next year, also sell alcoholic beverages at home football games. (The University of Michigan and Michigan State are both in the Big Ten.)

In addition to putting Michigan’s public universities on a similar playing field as their counterparts, advocates for the plan say it will lead to a decrease in binge drinking before fans get into stadiums.

But several groups, including the Michigan Alcohol Policy Promoting Health & Safety, opposed the measure.

Academic research on the issue appears divided. Since 2015, schools have begun to allow alcohol sales within their football stadiums, one study published earlier this year in the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine found, but "there is a paucity of data on the public health effects of these policy changes."

Researchers noted that in 1996, the University of Colorado at Boulder banned in-stadium alcohol sales, which resulted in a dramatic decrease in arrests, assaults, ejections and referrals to the Judicial Affairs Office. They also cited a study at Ohio State University that found that stricter community and university alcohol policies were associated with increased alcohol-related emergency room visits. But in their own study, the authors found at a "large Midwestern university" that allowed in-stadium alcohol sales in 2021, there was a decrease in alcohol-related emergency service calls on home game days that year compared to 2019 (the year 2020 was excluded because of COVID-19), although the result was not statistically significant.

One House lawmaker, Rep. Abraham Aiyash, D-Hamtramck, questioned the necessity of alcohol sales in stadiums, noting many fans already drink, sometimes in excess, before getting to the actual game.

"You can enjoy Michigan State football or basketball, or Michigan football and basketball, with a nice glass of Coke or a bottle of water," Aiyash said when the House voted on the bill June 23. "Tailgates usually accomplish the goal of getting folks warmed up before the game."

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With more than 100,000 fans regularly in the stands at a Michigan home football game, the implications could be significant. A spokesman said the University of Michigan has not said whether it will take advantage of the new opportunity to sell alcohol at its sporting venues. "At the University of Michigan, our campus leaders continue to discuss this legislation," spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald said in an email. "There has not been a decision regarding this matter."

At Oakland University, spokesman Brian Bierley said Wednesday that the university "was supportive of the legislation to allow the sale of alcohol, but we will not be selling alcohol at our fall home sports competitions, and do not plan to sell alcohol to the general public at our winter or spring home sports competitions."

Michigan State University says it's too soon to say whether alcohol will flow inside Spartan Stadium's first football game Sept. 1 against Central Michigan University. For the well-heeled fans, adult beverages have been served to suiteholders, but have not been available for the masses.

"There are a few steps for us to take before we’re able to offer this option at MSU and we are working through some of the logistics related to that," MSU spokesman Dan Olsen said in a statement.

Marlon Lynch, vice president and chief safety officer for MSU, spoke in support of the bill at hearings before the Legislature, saying that other institutions with stadium alcohol sales have seen a reduction in excessive drunkenness and have not had to alter their law enforcement patrols.

"There has not been an increase regarding additional police and public safety staff that has been needed,” Lynch said. “Any challenges associated with the sales and have been particularly of note have been the concessions themselves, as far as the long lines and finding space within the venues to conduct the sales.”

The new booze policy may have cost the Spartans at least one fan at this fall's football games.

Robin Hartnett, who typically buys season tickets to the football games as a 1990 alumna at Michigan State, said she may not do so this year because of the new alcohol policy.

"I don't need someone bombed pouring a beer on me," Hartnett said. "It's bad enough the ushers let people vape and do nothing about it."

The Grosse Pointe Farms Spartan fan concedes she may still get football tickets, noting she just learned about the Michigan State-Penn State game at Ford Field. But she's not happy about the new alcohol policy.

"I don’t think that the stadium needs more alcohol in it," Hartnett said, noting: "The majority of the actual students can’t drink legally … it just invites problems."

Some universities decided to jump the gun, pushing ahead with alcohol sales or plans for such before the bill signing. Western Michigan and Grand Valley State universities have already announced their intentions to serve booze, news outlets reported earlier. Eastern Michigan University tested sales in limited locations in 2015, and expanded to the entire football stadium and basketball arena in 2019, according to MLive.

The statewide legislation signed Wednesday took immediate effect because it passed both houses of the Legislature by wide margins, in the Senate 36-2, and the House by an 85-23 vote.

Michigan public universities already have a bit of experience mixing drinks for the over-21 crowd.

MSU already sells alcohol in Spartan Stadium suites because the suites aren't connected to the stadium. Universities have been allowed to obtain liquor licenses to allow alcohol sales at events they have hosted, just not for college games. At Michigan Stadium, beer was sold during the 2014 NHL Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs, as well as a 2014 international soccer friendly between Real Madrid and Manchester United.

Given the past practice, it could be unlikely you'll even have a beer to crack open. Many alcohol sales at Michigan Stadium for past events, for example, appeared to have involved the frothy drink poured straight into a cup by a vendor.

Lansing State-Journal reporter Krystal Nurse contributed to this article.

Contact Matthew Dolan: 313-223-4743 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @matthewsdolan