We need booze in Ford Stadium.
There, I said it. Maybe you just gasped, or maybe the reader next to you just passed clean out. Alcohol? At a football game? How absurd! But before I’m lacerated by a soft-drink-wielding mob, allow me to explain my reasoning.
It’s a scorching Saturday in September. You left the shade of a tent on the Boulevard to watch your Mustangs battle. As the sun beats down upon Ford Stadium, all you want is a refreshingly cold beer to quench your thirst and momentarily forget you’re sweating through your button-down.
But you can’t have one. Why? Because you’re told that football and alcohol are separable. Really? That’s like saying the Earth is flat, Texas is cold or Park n’ Pony is friendly. When’s the last time a bunch of football fanatics sat around with brats, burgers and a diet coke with light ice? When’s the last time you asked your buddy to grab a Snapple on the way over for “Saturday Night Football?” You didn’t, because you’re a true American football fan.
It’s time we watch our Mustangs in our home stadium with our frothy friend in hand.
But wait. Beer flowing from the rafters will send the wrong image, right? After all, alcohol doesn’t exist on college campuses, or up in the stadium box suites, or at the Boulevard a block over, or in students’ dorm rooms across campus or in students’ apartments across Hillcrest.
You get my point. Just as the Boulevard maintains a healthy balance between civility and socialization, imbibing students in Ford Stadium would observe the same parameters. Rules would still apply, and the law would be enforced. The sky would not fall, morals would not be lost, and chaos would not ensue.
The NCAA remains mute on alcohol sales in college stadiums, so many peer institutions have moved toward these progressive changes. Heard of any lawless, violent riots in college stadiums recently? I thought not.
But why can’t we woo throngs of Mustang supporters into Ford with new music or shoot off some more fireworks? While this could work in the long run, why not focus on increasing student attendance immediately to pump up the positive vibes?
We all know SMU school spirit is abysmal. I’ve seen cemeteries with more pep. Suffering from severe bouts of Boulevard withdrawals by half-time, a fed up student section bolts for the exit. Whereas the bars and restaurants in the area absorb the mass exodus of croakies and Ray Bans, Ford Stadium is left high and dry with two or three cheering fans sipping their Mountain Dew. Surgery has more appeal.
Why not make leaving at half-time a thing of the past? Sounds logical to me. Think about it: beer sales in Ford Stadium mean you can nurse your hops and barley in the comfort of your own seat. Ford’s suite level permits alcohol already. Why not pay the license cost and bring that down a step for everyone?
Aside from the obvious cost benefits of sales and alcohol advertisements (everyone loves more money, right?), it would bring people in rather than push them out. Plus, on the success side of football (which we all love and hold dear to our hearts) West Virginia’s program turned around after beer sales opened up the school’s coffers.
Let’s tap into the revenue that more and more schools are seeing, and absorb the benefits of having a packed and rowdy stadium.
Beyond sheer rationality, common sense, and American football tradition, we have a real opportunity to radically change our football scene by finding inventive ways to get students and fans into Ford Stadium and getting them to stay there.
It’s simple: fill the Ford, all the way up please.
Cavender is a senior majoring in political science.
