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Alcohol Sales Coming to Memorial Stadium, Devaney Center If Board of Regents Approves

The Nebraska Board of Regents will vote next week on updating a policy to allow alcohol sales at all athletic events.

Kaleb Henry

Sep 20, 2024; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Fans hold cards to commemorate the 400th consecutive sellout after the first quarter between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Illinois Fighting Illini at Memorial Stadium.
Sep 20, 2024; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Fans hold cards to commemorate the 400th consecutive sellout after the first quarter between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Illinois Fighting Illini at Memorial Stadium. / Dylan Widger-Imagn Images
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Having a beer in Memorial Stadium is potentially just a year away.

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents is set to consider a massive policy change at its Oct. 4 meeting. The current policy allows for alcohol sales, with approval, on a case-by-case basis. This included the Garth Brooks concert, Volleyball Day in Nebraska, and the Big Ten Wrestling Championships at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The update would allow for them at all athletic contests, beginning in the 2025 season.

Nebraska began selling alcohol at Pinnacle Bank Arena for men's and women's basketball games during the 2022-23 season and at Haymarket Park for baseball and softball games this past spring.

Both of those venues had alcohol services already in place. That isn't the case for the century-old Memorial Stadium and volleyball's home in the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Infrastructure upgrades and seeking caterers for the sites will be necessary before taps can be turned on for Husker football and volleyball.

Memorial Stadium is the only football venue in the Big Ten Conference to not offer alcohol for purchase during games now or in the future.

On Sports Nightly this week, Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen said the average for sales of concessions in 2023 was $375,000. That number is closer to $900,000 this year, which includes the overhaul to the cashless system. If alcohol sales move forward, that number could eclipse $1 million a game in 2025.

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Kaleb Henry
KALEB HENRY

Kaleb Henry is an award-winning sports reporter, covering collegiate athletics since 2014 via radio, podcasting, and digital journalism. His experience with Big Ten Conference teams goes back more than a decade, including time covering programs such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, and USC Trojans. He has contributed to Sports Illustrated since 2021. Kaleb has won multiple awards for his sports coverage from the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Prior to working in sports journalism, Kaleb was a Division I athlete on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Track and Field team where he discussed NCAA legislation as SIUE's representative to the Ohio Valley Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. 

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