Like an increasing number of colleges and universities across the country, Texas A&M University will sell alcohol at home football games beginning this season, but unlike some schools, it is being judicious with alcohol accessibility at Kyle Field.
As reported by campus paper The Battalion, there will be no alcohol sold in concessions areas on the 350 level on the east side of Kyle Field, which services the second-deck student section. Students age 21 and older with a valid ID will still be permitted to purchase alcoholic beverages, including draft beer and wine, at other concessions and take them back to their seat in designated student sections.
Like an increasing number of colleges and universities across the country, Texas A&M University will sell alcohol at home football games beginning this season, but unlike some schools, it is being judicious with alcohol accessibility at Kyle Field.
As reported by campus paper The Battalion, there will be no alcohol sold in concessions areas on the 350 level on the east side of Kyle Field, which services the second-deck student section. Students age 21 and older with a valid ID will still be permitted to purchase alcoholic beverages, including draft beer and wine, at other concessions and take them back to their seat in designated student sections.
“We’ve taken every possible step to ensure the safety of our fans while providing the greatest atmosphere in all of college football,” Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork said in a statement. “We are excited about the upcoming season and want everyone to have a safe, enjoyable game day experience.”
All sales will be at stationary stands and no more than two alcoholic beverages can be purchased at once. Sales will conclude at the end of the third quarter, in compliance with rules outlined by the Southeastern Conference, which lifted an alcohol ban in public areas of stadiums May 31.
Related: SEC Ends Prohibition, Schools Allowed to Sell Alcohol
Texas A&M was the first SEC member to announce it would sell beer and wine in its stadium.
“We need to make it safe,” Bjork said. “We need to educate. We need to make sure we have all of the right parameters set up, and I know that the plan has been evolving since the vote has happened, so the folks at A&M have been working on this for some time and I think we’ll have a good plan to put in place. I like it. I think it provides flexibility we wanted, but we have to do it the right way.”
A&M is not alone among SEC peers in terms of putting some distance between students and alcohol points of sale. Releases from Arkansas, LSU, Missouri and Tennessee obtained by The Battalion likewise noted alcohol will not be sold in concessions closest to student sections. Arkansas has taken the added precaution of prohibiting the transport of alcohol into student sections. Missouri, meanwhile, has established an “alcohol-free zone,” but for now, there won’t be a similar seating area at Kyle Field.
Vanderbilt is the only other SEC school to opt into alcohol sales, with Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and South Carolina indicating they have not intention of beginning general stadium alcohol sales at this time. Florida and Kentucky have yet to decide.
