OSU Board of Regents Votes to Approve Alcohol Sales at Sporting Events

Oklahoma State’s board of regents voted on Friday to approve a trial program that will allow the sale of alcohol at OSU sporting events, according to The Oklahoman.

The vote will allow a “pilot program for serving alcohol in public seating at athletic venues.” Previously, alcohol sales and consumption at Boone Pickens Stadium — outside of suite and club level seating — was prohibited.

Several schools around the country, including in the Big 12 at Texas and West Virginia, have already joined the movement of selling alcohol in its stadiums. According to CBSSports.com, Texas raked in an additional $1.8 million in revenue in the first year of selling alcohol. That number nearly doubled when last year the Houston Chronicle reported Texas brought in $3.1 million.

In 2015, West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons told the New York Times that it also got a nice chunk of side revenue as part of the addition of alcohol sales in Morgantown.

“Approximately $500,000 a year just in beer comes back to us,” said Lyons.

A year later, that number had grown to around $600,000 at West Virginia.

If that number is anywhere close to what Oklahoma State can bring in — and if there isn’t a sudden spike in alcohol-related incidents during the program’s pilot period — you’d have to think the sale of alcohol at OSU sporting events could eventually become a permanent fixture.