University of Florida to sell alcohol at men’s basketball games
The University of Florida will begin selling alcohol at men’s basketball games, the school announced Monday.
Only beer and wine will be available at select concession areas of the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The pilot program will start with Tuesday’s home opener against North Florida.
The move comes just months after the Southeastern Conference amended its policy to allow the sale of alcohol at athletic events.
“Each institution in the Conference now has the autonomy to determine the permissibility of selling alcoholic beverages in its athletics venues, subject to certain Conference-wide alcohol management expectations,” the university said in a statement.
Adherent to the SEC policy, UF has enacted specific rules including the sale of alcohol only in stationary areas, the purchase of a maximum two drinks per trip, and a cutoff time at the start of the second half. Vendors won’t be able to go into the seating area to sell.
Additionally, UF will partner with concessions vendor Centerplate to ensure the arena staff gets training.
The program will last through the 2019-20 men’s basketball season and will be evaluated to see whether it should expand to other sports.
While several SEC schools allow alcohol to be sold at their football stadiums, few have expanded to include basketball games. UF will become only the sixth school in the conference to sell alcohol at basketball games.
This story was originally published November 4, 2019 at 3:59 PM.
