Georgia set to allow sale of alcohol inside Sanford Stadium in 2024

Georgia is set to remove its ban on alcohol sales at Sanford Stadium for the 2024 college football season, per Palmer Thombs of DawgsHQ.

“Georgia Athletics announced major news at its board of directors meeting on Wednesday,” Thombs wrote. Sanford Stadium will join its fellow 15 SEC schools in selling alcohol at football games this fall.”

The sale of beer and alcohol at Georgia home football games came following a UGA Athletics Association meeting on Wednesday. UGA, along with Auburn, were one of two holdouts in the SEC regarding the sale of alcohol.

Before the decision, alcohol could only be sold to those with premium seating, but will now be available to the 90,000-plus masses on game day.

Georgia had previously allowed the sale of alcohol at men’s and women’s basketball games inside Stegeman Coliseum beginning in 2021. Baseball, softball and tennis have followed suit in the seasons since.

Sponsors for UGA Athletics include Dos Equis, Twisted Tea, Creature Comforts, Bud Light, Coors Light and Miller Lite, according to Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald, with domestics being priced at $8 and premium for $9.

In spring of 2019, the Southeastern Conference lifted its ban on alcohol sales at all on-campus stadiums in public seating. The conference left the decision up to the schools whether they decided to sell alcohol or not, so far Kentucky, Auburn and Georgia are the only three SEC schools aside from Alabama that do not currently sell alcohol during home sporting events.

“This new policy allows each campus to decide what is right for them,” Alabama athletics said in a statement in 2019. “These guidelines will be helpful as we move forward and have future conversations. We have one of the best game-day atmospheres in the country, and we don’t envision making changes at this time.”

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a release when the sale of alcohol was permitted in SEC venues in 2019 that each school would need to decide whether or not selling alcoholic beverages at games would benefit the institute. It took nearly three years, but Alabama finally joined the group that are for the policy when they allowed sales at non-football venues during sporting events. Now, Bryant-Denny Stadium joins the fray.

“Our policy governing alcohol sales has been a source of considerable discussion and respectful debate among our member universities in recent years,” said Sankey at the time. “As a conference, we have been observant of trends in the sale and consumption of alcohol at collegiate sporting events and have drawn upon the experiences and insights of our member schools which have responsibly established limited alcohol sales within controlled spaces and premium seating areas.