Alcohol at Appleton? SLU Weighing Viability

St. Lawrence University’s Athletic Department is considering the introduction of alcohol sales at Appleton Arena during ice hockey games. The implementation of this new policy is currently being revised with potential benefits of generating additional revenue for the university and boosting attendance, especially at women’s hockey games.  

Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Franco Bari has been working on introducing a plan for alcohol sales at SLU hockey games for the past two years. “Since we abide by the NCAA policies, we understand that as we move forward with determining our plan of selling alcohol it’s exclusively to selling it at Appleton Arena,” he noted. He believes this initiative can enhance the athletic programs, SLU Athletics and the overall experience for the SLU community.  

Though alcohol consumption can often lead to negative consequences, Bari believes that it can hold significance in the future of the athletics department.  

“The importance is threefold: it provides an opportunity to generate revenue for the institution, a higher level of fan experience and when you provide that higher level of fan experience, you provide a higher level of student athlete experience,” he said.  

Fans have mixed feelings about this initiative. Ann, a Canton local, does not believe that the introduction of alcohol sales would change her experience at SLU hockey games. “There would be more rowdy people, but I think there’s already quite a bit with the tailgating and stuff like that, I really don’t think it would change that much,” she shared. She believes that although alcohol is not currently sold at the games, it still plays a major role among the audience.  

Will Averill, a retired hockey player, believes that selling alcohol at games is acceptable. “I could see it both ways, the positive is people would enjoy themselves, drinking legally. However, you would have to be careful with monitoring appropriate behavior like they do at professional sporting events or at other collegiate events where they allow alcohol,” he commented. His only concern remains the level of rowdiness or inappropriate behavior that might arise with excessive alcohol consumption.  

Averill thinks that selling alcohol at women’s hockey games could potentially attract a larger audience. “Which could be a great thing for women’s hockey, and I think being a parent of a female collegiate hockey player I always wish there was a bigger crowd,” he said. He believes that if alcohol was a means of getting more college students and community members of legal drinking age to attend the games, he would be in full support of the plan.  

Bari strongly believes that introducing alcohol sales would increase the attendance at the games. “We’ve done a lot of exploring and collected data from other institutions who had initiated the opportunity to sell alcohol at their venues and every single case we’ve noticed that there has been an increase in attendance,” he stated. Thus, Bari and his team are confident as they move forward with planning, that is something that will occur.  

However, Kimberly, a Canton local believes alcohol should not be sold at collegiate hockey games. “One reason is that the drinking age is 21, so I think that students or community members that are not of age for purchasing alcohol are going to find some way to do it and I just don’t think that it’s a good idea,” she noted. She believes that if the drinking age was lower, she would be more apt to support the matter.  

Though most fans agree that alcohol sales would enhance crowd size at hockey games, safety concerns continue to be an issue. Safety and security were also one of Bari’s biggest fears. “But we have had conversations with various institutions that have implemented alcohol plans and surprisingly it hasn’t come as concerning as we had thought,” he said.  

Creating a safe environment for the spectators remains the key focus for Bari and his team. He mentioned that safety would be maintained by monitoring behavior of fans, ensuring individuals are not over-served and verifying proper identification to comply with the legal drinking age. “We feel confident that with the introduction of alcohol sales, we can create an environment that still reduces the opportunity of fans getting out of hand,” concluded Bari.