No Booze at DKR
UT chancellor says no to beer sales at the football stadium this fall
UT system chancellor Francisco Cigarroa announced at the Board of Regents meeting Thursday night that he will not approve the sale of alcohol at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium this fall.
As reported by the Austin American-Statesman, the declaration “stunned” multiple sources at the university. Cigarroa went on to tell the Statesman, “we’re not going to do it this year. Bill Powers and I agreed that we really needed more of an experience of selling beer and wine at our basketball games, baseball and track and field.”
Rumors of alcohol sales at UT sporting events became the talk of the town earlier this spring. Alcohol sales went into full effect during baseball games, and while Athletic Director Steve Patterson never guaranteed sales in the fall for football games, fans held high hopes that they would be able to purchase beer and wine at DKR.
But Cigarroa has nixed those plans — and possibly earned a few more critics among alumni in the process. UT will remain in the company of a diminishing list of universities in Texas that don’t allow alcohol sales for football. University of Houston and Rice University already sell alcohol; SMU has announced plans to begin sales this fall.
Currently, two other Big 12 schools sell alcohol at football games: Iowa State and West Virginia University. For most schools, the decision to sell alcohol comes down to attempting to prevent binge drinking at tailgates or creating an extra revenue stream.
But at least this year, the only Texas fans with access to booze will be those in clubs and suites.
