You’ve probably already heard (and are far from shocked about learning) that Georgia’s alcohol policy isn’t changing in the wake of the SEC’s decision to leave it up to its individual member schools to set rules for in-stadium sales.
“After consideration of the many facets involved with the Southeastern Conference’s revised alcohol policy, the Athletic Association has made the decision to maintain, at this time, the current UGA policy which prohibits the sale of alcoholic beverages in non-premium seating areas of our athletics facilities,” McGarity said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. “However, we will conduct an annual review of this policy to determine if any modifications may be needed in the future.”
As previously reported, Georgia is opening up sales in the premium areas to those higher-end donors this season at Sanford, something it could have done before the SEC changed its alcohol rules.
About 900 fans in the SkyClub and Champions Club ($1,200 and $2,250 per seat donation) and another 400 in a lounge area for Magill Society members who contribute at least $100,000 will be able to buy beer and wine.
Suiteholders and those in the East End Zone field suites launched last season already had access to alcohol during games.
Like I said, no surprise there. I do think the decision was driven as much by practicality as by throwing the big money contributors a bone, as indicated by this quote:
As for selling alcohol stadium-wide this fall, Morehead said at the league meetings in Destin he had “particular concerns about our students and how we would manage that in Sanford Stadium,” and said the school already had to try to manage long lines at concession stands.”
Ain’t that the truth, Jere. The logistics for beer sales are daunting, especially considering that management believes that having volunteers manning concession stands is a state of the art approach to service. Give Butts-Mehre credit for not making a bad situation worse — I know that’s a low bar, but still.
Get The Picture 
No surprise and the right decision this late in the off-season – if they threw this together this late, people who got in the line before the game would probably end up missing the 1st quarter.
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I agree, the service issues Sanford already has would just be amplified. It comes off poorly as they are expanding alcohol to the premium seat area so another bad PR look. I think there should have always been a few beer stands scattered around stadiums so I am certainly not against beer being available at sporting events, but I just don’t get the number of people who think getting up during a football game is that critical when you would/could miss so many plays. Doesn’t matter if it were a 25 cent Coke or beer, I wouldn’t miss part of the game to go get one in a stadium until halftime.
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If you go at halftime, you’re likely to miss half the 3rd quarter if you don’t go to one of the grab and go locations.
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Management will have to get rid of volunteers and actually hire a service company for the 6-7 weeks a year they are needed. I would assume the suites etc already have a service company fulfilling these roles. The additional costs of a service company should be offset by alcohol revenues in the general seating area. Secondly it’s way past time for them to add additional bathrooms to the concourses (much harder to do and $). I saw in a article somewhere they probably watch other teams implementation this year and uses 2020 to add the feature to Basketball and Baseball to get logistics down. Earliest we probably see it in Stanford is 2021, if it happens then.
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Everything’s fine. We’re very happy with the way we do things at UGA and you should be too. We could choose to shut down the football program. Then you’d have nothing. Would you want that? Considering some of the alternatives, not having alcohol isn’t so bad. Be happy that we provide the services that we do. We have limited money and resources.
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Have been saying this for 2 weeks and been getting hammered by many on here who were thinking they were going to have the full array of Creature Comforts on tap in no time – if you are surprised by this, you have not been paying attention!
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I doubt it’ll ever be taps, but huge barrels of ice and canned bud light.
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TL;DR
1. The poors don’t deserve beer.
2. Our slave labor is largely incompetent.
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The “Pick Up Trunk Alumni” can’t be trusted to make their own choices
ditto
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The volunteers while not great were as good or better than Georgia Dome concessions outside of the premium areas.
Good to see alcohol sales will be limited.
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“Georgia Dome”
ISWYDT
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I continue to say, that anyone who wants to drink at UGA games, is drinking at UGA games. And drinking the BOOZE of their choice…usually a brown colored flavored water, aka BOURBON.
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I’m OK with this. Me, Georgia football, and a plentiful supply of booze are a toxic combination.
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We shouldn’t give them a pass on the logistics argument simply because they have a track record of refusing to address logistical problems. These people are professionals, and they’re paid to be able to handle these exact issues. If it’s too difficult for them, they need to be replaced.
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Here’s a question. Who TF volunteers to work a concession stand? And why?
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Some people like helping their community. As you know, we are a non-profit that relies on volunteers to help make ends meet.
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My understanding is that the Athletic Association makes a donation to the club (i.e., school band, church group, etc.) that provides the labor. Instead of selling candy, magazines, wrapping paper, etc. to pay for school trips, etc., the kids are volunteering to work the concession stand.
(Obviously, the “donation” is a significantly less than what the actual labor cost would be for the kids, much less for people who actually knew what they are doing – only UGA management knows “how much” though…)
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