Tower Club members and those in the President’s box during football games will be able to purchase alcohol during athletic events at Peden Stadium beginning Sept. 20.
Tower Club members and those in the President’s box during football games will be able to purchase alcohol during athletic events at Peden Stadium beginning Sept. 20.
Athens City Council was notified of Ohio University’s plans to sell alcohol at Peden and The Convo in mid-August. On Monday, Councilmember Jeff Risner said, “No one on the council raised any official objections” to the liquor license requested by OU.
An OU Athletics official said they have not finalized what alcohol will be offered or the cost.
To join the university’s Tower Club, members must donate at least $250 to the Ohio Bobcat Club Annual Fund. Alcohol sales will be limited to the 3rd and 4th floors of Peden Stadium, which house the club. Those holding general admission tickets will not have the opportunity to purchase alcohol there.
Drake Bolon, director of Marketing and Sales for OU Athletics, said figures for the cost of the beer garden in the Tower Club were not readily available.
“There are a number of different approval steps that had to be taken,” Bolon said. “It’s a rather lengthy process.”
Many universities are starting to sell alcoholic beverages at athletic events because of the monetary revenue it brings to the schools, according to ESPN. Of the 19 universities that sell alcohol to general admission seating at athletic events, four of them are in the state of Ohio: Bowling Green; Akron; Cincinnati; and Kent State.
While OU will not sell alcohol to the general public, Bowling Green began selling spirits to
students over the age of 21 in 2011, regardless of where their seats were in the stadium.
“The council did not request any hearings from the state to look at this,” Risner said. “When we don’t do that, it essentially goes back to the state and it pretty much goes through.
“No one proposed to have a hearing and nothing was voted on, so it simply went through, unopposed.”
OU has also requested a liquor license for The Convo. A spokesman for the Ohio Division of Liquor Control told The Post he could not immediately find any record showing OU had a license to sell alcohol at Peden.
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