KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Bronco football fans are raising a glass!
Alcoholic drinks will be available to general admission seating at Waldo Stadium this season.
In a unanimous vote Thursday, Western Michigan University's Board of Trustees approved a proposal by Athletics Director, Dan Bartholomae, similar to the plan he launched during his time as Deputy Athletics Director at Oregon State.
He requested five single-day liquor licenses— just as they've been able to do for VIP and premium-ticket seats in years past— but this year the request was expanded to include making alcoholic drinks available to the entire stadium.
Watch Bartholomae's presentation and the vote here:
Bartholomae said it reflects what survey-takers have been telling the school— fans and students want to drink alcohol while in the stadium, no matter where they can afford to sit.
Data collected over three years after his plan was implemented at Oregon State showed incidents of over-intoxication— often caused by fans sneaking alcohol into the stadium— dropped, while fan attendance and sponsor revenue jumped, according to Bartholomae.
WMU has been putting the infrastructure in place to support alcohol sales at sporting events. The school contracted Kalamazoo Concessions, LLC— the same organization already selling alcohol at Kalamazoo Growlers games— to provide concessions at Waldo Stadium back in August 2022.
Under the plan, you'll notice they're strictly monitoring sales and behavior on game days.
Here's what game day will look like under the plan:
Sales
ID required
2 drink limit per transaction
Alcohol sales to stop at start of 4th quarter
Alcohol cannot leave the stadium
No re-entry
Monitoring
Concessions employees are trained on WMU, Michigan alcohol sales and intervention policies
Increased WMU DPS presence near points of sale and around the stadium
Increased WMU and Kalamazoo DPS patrols near stadium, on and near campus
Confidential tip-line to report alcohol-related incidents will be available
Incident data will be collected and used to review practices during prep- and post-meetings for both game days and the season.
The approved request is only good for home games during the 2023-24 season and will need to be reviewed year-to-year.
Bartholomae hinted that making these yearly requests may not be required in the future as two bills before Michigan legislators (HB4328 and SB0247) would make room for sporting venues to have their own year-round liquor licenses. Supporters for those bills say areas where alcohol is available at stadiums tend to have fewer alcohol-related incidents and better fan regulation.
WMU is now the last MAC program to decide to sell alcohol to general admission ticket-holders. The decision leaves only five Division 1 schools with dry or semi-dry policies.
