New beer sales at this year’s UW vs. CSU: Border Wars football game generated about $62,000 after sales tax according to University of Wyoming Athletics.
The university has recently introduced beer as a sale product at all of the big athletic events on campus, providing a new form of revenue and entertainment for students and attendees of legal age.
“I think it’s a great way to make money for the university,” Chandler Haukap, a Junior studying Computer Science, said. “People are going to drink regardless and this way the money can help fund the university.”
The game against CSU had the second highest beer sales for the year, with the Oregon game producing just a little bit more.
“You would expect that normally with a rivalry game like CSU, so we were hoping that would be the outcome of it and it turned out that way,” Bill Sparks, Senior Associate Athletic Director in Business Operations of the Wyoming Athletics Department, said.
The weather did not seem to affect beer sales.
“The weather sort of caught all of us off guard,” Sparks said. “But it didn’t appear to impact our people who wanted to buy beer.”
He speculates that because of the weather conditions many people went down to warm up in the concourse areas below the seats and then bought beer and socialized while watching the game on the TV monitors before returning outside.
Beer sales were also successful at the basketball game against Regis on Friday, Nov. 3, bringing in about $9,000 in revenue.
“I think that has added a new element to the entertainment aspect of the game,” Sparks said. “We’re constantly trying to find new ways [and] things that we can provide and do that will make the game interesting and enjoyable and entertaining for fans.”
Sparks says that the department wants to encourage fans to come out and watch the game and not on the T.V. at home or at the bar. This is one thing they hope this new system will provide.
One cup of beer at a university sporting event is $7 and with that comes a wrist band for a limit of four beers.
“As a college student, I don’t think I can afford $28 for four beers but I think it is good to make sure that people aren’t over served, especially when it is this cold outside,” Haukap said.
Along with the four-beer limit, a no re-entry policy has been put into action.
“The no re-entry policy obviously has affected people going out at half-time, back into the tailgating area, but that’s also for the purpose of trying to reduce binge drinking,” Sparks said.
The last two athletic games produced sales upwards of $70,000.
Beer sales generate revenue
