SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS ATHLETICS
South Carolina will begin selling alcohol at athletic events.
South Carolina's Board of Trustees' Executive and Governance Committee voted unanimously to approve the sale of alcohol Tuesday afternoon and it was approved by the board Monday afternoon.
Ray Tanner told the Board of Trustees the athletic department is focusing in on doing alcohol sales at Colonial Life Arena first for men's and women's basketball, moving then to baseball at Founders Park and Williams-Brice Stadium for football.
He then said they'll move to other athletic facilities.
The profits would be split 50-50 between South Carolina and Aramark, the athletic department's concession provider, which Tanner called the industry standard.
Tanner said Aramark will control which beers are sold, the pricing and said "they're going to put things in there that are popular." He said they haven't delved deep into pricing.
Alcohol sales would take affect Jan. 1, 2020.
When asked how much the university will make off alcohol sales, Tanner said nailing down that number will be "hard to get to" and will depend on game time, pricing and could vary.
"Will it be seven figures? You hope it could be," Tanner said. "It's still to be determined."
One board member, Mack Whittle Jr., said he wants to use the revenue made from alcohol sales to renovate and add new restrooms.
The conference revised its alcohol policy in the summer to allow alcohol sales, and a few schools allowed the sales immediately while South Carolina waited until now to do it.
There are plenty of guidelines in terms of being able to sell it, and those can be found on the official SEC website.
Tanner also said the athletic department could begin experimenting with metal detectors at games.
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