Saturday was supposed to mark the first time the University of Nebraska at Kearney would sell alcohol at a home football game, but the Lopers’ concessions vendor was unable to secure proper insurance in time for the game.
As reported by Nebraska Public Media, Kearney-based Nightlife Concepts, a limited liability company, holds the concessions contract for UNK events. The company needs $5 million worth of liquor liability coverage under University of Nebraska system rules, according to UNK spokesperson Todd Gottula.
“What happened is that the vendors’ insurance provider could only provide $1 million in the liquor liability coverage,” Gottula said, “and what happened is they had some issues confirming whether or not their insurance covered stadiums.”
The company, which has sold food and non-alcoholic drinks at Loper home games in the past, owns a local restaurant and bar, so the vendor has worked with alcohol licensing and insurance before, Gottula said.
“There were some breakdowns in communication at several levels, unfortunately,” Gottula said.
UNK announced that alcohol sales would take place at the stadium last month, and included new safety and security updates, including a new no re-entry policy and a new bag-check policy, according to Central Nebraska Today.
Per the reporting of Nebraska Public Media's Aaron Bonderson, the Kearney athletic department notified the public Friday that “due to unforeseen issues with vendor insurance relative to university requirements, alcohol will not be served at Saturday’s Nebraska Kearney football game with Chadron State,” according to an announcement on the UNK Athletics website.
The news was also posted to UNK’s Facebook and X pages at 6:50 p.m. Friday, Bonderson reported.
About 3,000 fans showed up to support the Lopers in a 41-21 win over Chadron State. The UNK stadium holds about 5,200 people.
Last October, the Board of Regents approved alcohol sales at all athletic venues across the NU system, Bonderson reported. In early August, UNK said it would join the Husker athletic department in Lincoln by selling alcohol at football games. In addition to football games, Husker Athletics sells beer and seltzers at baseball, softball, men’s and women’s basketball and, now, women’s volleyball and soccer games.
According to Bonderson, the University of Nebraska at Omaha serves alcohol at hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, softball, baseball and men’s and women’s soccer events.
"Offering beer and other alcoholic beverages in a regulated and responsible manner is a positive step for our program and our fans," athletic director Marc Bauer said at the time.
“Our next [home] game is Sept. 20 vs. Emporia State, and I'm pretty confident we'll have it in place by that game,” Gottula said, adding the insurance decisions are entirely decided by the vendor.
There will be a “hit to revenue” but it’s unclear how much money Loper Athletics lost from not selling alcohol Saturday, Gottula said, as reported by Nebraska Public Media's Bonderson.
