Not a lot of people follow the North Carolina General Assembly but something pivotal happened in the last few weeks. With the passage of House Bill 500 the door is now open for beer and wine sales to start at Carter-Finley Stadium and other stadiums around the state. The law states that alcohol sales are permitted at “stadiums, ballparks, and other similar facilities with a permanently constructed seating capacity of 3,000 or more which are not located on the campus of a school, college, or university.” An argument can be made that while Carter-Finley Stadium is on land OWNED by NC State, the stadium is not “ON CAMPUS.” At the moment the only school in North Carolina that can serve beer/wine in general admission seats is Wake Forest, which is a private school and chooses to do so.
This has the possibility to help NC State in a weird and positive way. NC State is the only college stadium that I have ever been to allows what they call “pass-outs.” What this means, is that the fans are allowed to leave the stadium, go back to their tailgate sites, have a few more drinks and then re-enter the stadium. This practice while great, does not translate to television very well. This practice makes the stadium look half full going into the 3rd quarter. If NC State chooses to push for the sale of beer/wine at Carter-Finley, NC State should stop allowing “passouts.”
When you look at this, most people wonder “why is the selling of alcohol a big deal?” Well, according to a Lantern article from December 2017 Ohio State generated $1.23 million in additional revenue from beer/wine sales. That is on top of the $1.116 million that was generated in 2016. Now, the Ohio State Athletic Department doesn’t need the money. But mid-level Power 5 schools, like NC State, $1.23 million extra in the coffers of the Athletic Department can go a long way. There is a downside to the selling of beer/wine. According to that same Lantern article the amount of in stadium arrests increased from 22 arrests in 2016 (inside the stadium) to 39 arrests in 2017.
With the gap in revenue between Power 5 schools and Group of 5 growing, but the revenue gap within Power 5 Conferences. College sports has become an arms race, there is no stopping it, and colleges need to find ways to maximize the revenue that can be generated and the selling of wine and beer in the stadiums is one way to do that.
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