We'll Drink To That
SMU plans to kick off football season with first-ever beer sales at Ford Stadium
College football season is still several months away, but SMU fans already have something to cheer about. The university recently revealed it hopes to sell beer for the first time ever at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
"We are still working through the logistics, but our plan is to sell beer at Ford Stadium starting this fall," associate athletic director Brad Sutton says.
SMU put beer on tap at basketball games in 2014 when the newly renovated Moody Coliseum opened. The alcoholic addition to the menu included a three-beer limit for students of legal drinking age, which was enforced through a wristband with three pull-tabs.
Sutton wouldn't say if the same policy would be in place for football games, but it's a likely scenario considering how effective the wristbands appeared to be at curbing excessive drinking. Athletic director Rick Hart told USA Today that there were zero alcohol-related arrests after beer sales were added to the basketball games. Sutton says the success of the Moody implementation is shaping the university's approach for football.
"We were deliberate in setting the plan for Moody, and it was safe and successful, so this process will also be carefully designed and vetted before we roll it out."
Thirsty Mustang football fans previously had to get their fix while tailgating at The Boulevard, as alcohol sales were forbidden on campus. But that appears all but a distant memory.
If all goes according to plan, fans will be able to kick off the new season with a cold one when SMU takes the field September 20 for its home opener against Texas A&M.
