Husker fans may soon be able to celebrate or commiserate — take your pick — with a beer inside Memorial Stadium or Pinnacle Bank Arena.
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents will consider changing its policy next week, allowing for the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages at athletic events.
NU’s president and campus chancellors have had authority to allow alcohol to be sold, dispensed and consumed at licensed private events on campus since 1990, but regents have banned the consumption at University of Nebraska-Lincoln athletic events since 1999.
Under the new policy to be considered by regents Feb. 11, the ban on consumption would be rescinded, giving administrators authority to allow beer and liquor sales to fans 21 years and older.
That could give Husker fans the ability to purchase a cold one at Memorial Stadium, Pinnacle Bank Arena and Haymarket Park in the future.
The first event with beer sales, if approved by regents, would be the Big Ten Conference Wrestling Championships at Pinnacle Bank Arena on March 5-6. The board will consider amending NU’s contract with the City of Lincoln to allow liquor sales to take place.
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The timetable for expanding sales at other events, including football, basketball and baseball games, is not defined in the agenda items that will go before regents next week, but the proposed policy change marks the latest shift in the university’s position on whether or not to join the growing ranks of colleges and universities that sell alcohol at sporting events.
“Opening any university event to alcohol is a question that we will always approach with diligence and care,” NU President Ted Carter said in a prepared statement. “Our board and administration have thoughtfully explored these issues for years, together with our athletics colleagues, business teams and others. This proposed policy change is a commonsense first step if we ultimately decide to consider alcohol at any additional athletic events.
“I want to be clear that beyond the Big Ten Wrestling Championships, we are not currently considering any proposals to introduce alcohol at University of Nebraska athletic events, including Husker football, basketball or baseball games. Any decision in that respect would come only after the respective chancellor and I have carefully considered the economic case, the impact on the fan experience, and what’s in the best overall interests of the University of Nebraska.”
Former Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne, a prominent opponent of alcohol sales in college sports, stepped up enforcement of an alcohol ban in Memorial Stadium’s skyboxes in 2009 after a fan required medical attention after drinking too much.
Prior to that, skybox ticketholders could stock their suites with alcohol the day before the game, while the rest of the stadium remained dry.
After Osborne’s retirement, the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska, which represents the roughly 25,000 students at UNL, passed a resolution in 2016 encouraging administrators to take another look at selling alcohol at games.
Then-Athletic Director Shawn Eichorst and the 600 members of NU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee took the opposing view, saying they didn’t feel there was strong support to start selling booze at Husker games.
“I know there are some folks out there that might be interested in us heading that direction, but I don’t have a strong sense of that,” Eichorst said at the time.
Meanwhile, the University of Nebraska at Omaha has allowed alcohol sales at Maverick hockey, basketball, volleyball, baseball and softball games, and the NCAA has begun selling beer and wine at its championship events, including College World Series games in Omaha.
Eight of the 14 schools in the Big Ten — Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue and Rutgers — sell beer and wine throughout venues at games. Alcohol sales have also expanded throughout the Southeastern Conference, as well as the Pac-12.
Kansas State, however, pulled back on stadium-wide beer sales after one year, saying the majority of its fans preferred a return to alcohol sales limited to designated beer gardens and club seating areas.
A concert in Memorial Stadium by country music superstar Garth Brooks last August, where UNL applied for and received a special liquor license, gave fans a glimpse at what beer sales to more than 80,000 people could look like.
Fans hold up beer as Garth Brooks performs on stage at Memorial Stadium in August.
NU Athletic Director Trev Alberts, speaking on “Sports Nightly” on Jan. 26, said there were strong opinions on both sides of the debate on whether or not to allow alcohol at Husker games.
Alberts said that alcohol at the college level “must be considered one thing: a fan amenity.”
“Allowing alcohol sales at the conference wrestling championship would be consistent with beverage options provided at Big Ten championship competitions in many sports, including the Big Ten Baseball Tournament in Omaha,” Alberts said in a statement. “The infrastructure at Pinnacle Bank Arena is in place to handle alcohol sales and we appreciate the Board of Regents’ consideration of this request.”
UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green said the proposed policy change would create a uniform set of practices across each of the university system’s campuses.
“Specific to UNL facilities and events, we have had ongoing conversations with the city of Lincoln for several years around this possibility,” he said in a statement. “With respect to Husker Athletics, Trev and I have been considering this carefully and will thoughtfully approach how best to move forward.”
Several University of Nebraska regents, including sitting members of the board, have long said they were open to the idea of change.
Regents Jim Pillen of Columbus and Rob Schafer of Beatrice said they were open to the idea of discussing alcohol sales at all NU athletic events.
Lincoln Regent Tim Clare was, too. He is also a member of the West Haymarket Joint Public Agency that oversees the arena’s operations.
“If someone said that would be a way to make some extra money, then I think that’s a discussion we need to have on the board,” Clare said in 2015.
Osborne told KETV in Omaha he would caution regents against making the change.
“I’ve always felt when you throw alcohol into the mix, it changes the nature of the audience,” he told the television station. “And so I would certainly advise them to think this over very carefully before they make this move.”
Journal Star staff writer Parker Gabriel contributed to this report.
Photos: In awe of Memorial Stadium
1923 stadium
A then-Nebraska record crowd of 43,000 packs Memorial Stadium for the Huskers’ 14-7 upset of Notre Dame on Nov. 10, 1923. Some parts of the new stadium were still under construction.
1950 stadium
Aerial view of the UNL Stadium in 1950.
1959 stadium
Aerial view of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, March 23, 1959.
Memorial Stadium 1965
Seating beyond the north and south end zones pushed capacity to nearly 53,000 seats in 1965.
1971 stadium
Aerial view of the UNL Stadium on 9/23/1971.
1991 stadium
Aerial view of Memorial Stadium in 1991.
Stadium in 1994
The pumped crowd for the UCLA game in 1994.
1999 stadium
A new skybox towers over a new playing surface as the usual sea of red takes in Nebraska’s first home game of the 1999 season.
2005 stadium
Aerial of Memorial Stadium, Ed Weir Track and site of the new Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex as seen from the east side in 2005.
2006 stadium
Memorial Stadium and environs in 2006.
2008 Spring Game crowd
More than 80,000 fans were on hand as the Red and White teams entered Memorial Stadium for the start of the Spring Game in April 2008.
2009 stadium
A sellout crowd watches a fireworks display in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb., Sept. 26, 2009, as they mark the 300th consecutive sellout, an NCAA record, following Nebraska’s 55-0 rout of Louisiana-Lafayette.
Memorial Stadium 2009
The University of Nebraska Cornhuskers sold-out Memorial Stadium for the 300th consecutive time, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009.
Red-White Spring Game, 4.16.2011
A crowd of more than 66,000 attended the Red-White Spring Game at Memorial Stadium, Saturday, April 16, 2011.
Aerial of stadium in 2012
Memorial Stadium (top) and Pinnacle Bank Arena looking northeast, April 25, 2012.
2013
Red-White Spring Game, 4.11.15
Husker fans turned out in force to watch the debut of the Riley era at the annual Red-White Spring Game 2015 at Memorial Stadium. More than 60,000 tickets have already been sold for this year’s game on April 15.
2015 stadium
Digital Sky’s drone got this picture from Memorial Stadium on July 27, 2015.
Husker fans, 11/24/17
Husker fans release balloons following the Huskers’ first-quarter touchdown against Iowa in November 2017.
Ohio State vs. Nebraska, 10/14/17
The Cornhusker Marching Band performs their pregame routine at Memorial Stadium, on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017.
Red-White Spring Game, 4/21/18
A packed stadium watches the first half of the Red-White Spring Game on Saturday, April 21, 2018, at Memorial Stadium.
2019 fireworks
The Nebraska State Patrol captured this photo Sept. 28, 2019, of the stadium as fireworks went off before the Husker game.
Victoria Ayotte Brown
Guard flyover at stadium – 2019
The Nebraska National Guard did a flyover of Memorial Stadium on Nov. 16, 2019, with two Blackhawk helicopters.
2019 stadium
Memorial Stadium is shown with colorful skies creeping in during a 2019 game.
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