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Games with beer sales safer? Incidents down at Neyland Stadium in first game with alcohol sales
By Brian Stultz
Published:
It would be hard to blame Tennessee fans for deciding to have a couple extra drinks at Neyland Stadium considering how the season has begun in Knoxville.
With the athletic department agreeing to sell alcohol at home games starting this past Saturday, many people were interested in seeing the comparisons between past incident rates, prior alcohol sales, and what happened during the Volunteers loss to BYU.
Well, while it is only one game, the results are interesting.
Alcohol was sold at Neyland Stadium for the first time Saturday. Below is an “incident” comparison between Saturday’s game and Tennessee’s most recent September 7 p.m. kickoff. pic.twitter.com/V1vlaAHQd7
— Tom Satkowiak (@TomSatkowiak) September 9, 2019
While fewer arrests and ejections took place with alcohol sales being allowed, there are a couple of factors you have to consider. First, the opponent in the Sept. 22, 2018 game was rival Florida and, well, there are bound to be many more incidents when the two SEC East foes get together. Saturday’s opponent, on the other hand, was BYU, an opponent that only Utah Utes despise. While Gators fans would likely have taken part in the beer sales and caused some ruckus, it is highly unlikely that visiting BYU supporters, dominantly part of the Mormon religion who abstain from things such as alcohol and caffeine, would add to the beer sales.
We will likely have a better comparison after Oct. 5 when Georgia comes to Knoxville.
Brian Stultz covers SEC football for SaturdayDownSouth.com. A graduate of Auburn University, he is a member of the Football Writers Association of America. You can follow him on Twitter @brianjstultz.
