Vanderbilt Football: Could Vanderbilt join Tennessee in alcohol sales?

It was almost a guarantee that Tennessee would be selling alcohol at its football games in 2019, but Vanderbilt was a little more skeptical about the matter.

Now two weeks after the SEC permitted alcohol sales during sporting events, Vanderbilt is considering selling alcohol this fall according to WKRN.

"The Vanderbilt Athletics Department said in a statement: “This is a significant development, and we are considering how Vanderbilt will approach this policy change. Our highest priority will be providing a safe and positive experience for everyone attending a home football game at Vanderbilt Stadium.”"

Vanderbilt would be the last major school in Tennessee to approve of alcohol sales. Memphis was the first, then MTSU last year, and Tennessee is the most recent to make the move officially. MTSU is even going as far to put a beer garden on the field behind one of the endzones.

Vanderbilt athletic director Chris Massaro said the most essential thing with selling alcohol is safety. Massaro wants protection for the consumer and the people running the stands.

"“That’s the main thing is to make sure the people that are selling the beer are highly trained individuals, so if somebody has over-indulged at the tailgate, to make sure we deny the sales,” said Chris Massaro, “We also put a 2 beer limit purchase on each purchase and you can only visit the stand 3 times. Everybody in the stand that was drinking a beer had to wear a wristband to prove that they were over 21.”"

Vanderbilt is one of the more cautious schools when it comes to things like this, so if they were to approve of this, then it would be pretty surprising.

I can’t blame Vanderbilt for doing it though. Huge revenue numbers can come from alcohol sales and that could open up more opportunities for the Vanderbilt athletic department.

Also, don’t forget Vanderbilt is building a new stadium so they are going to need as much money as they can get in the upcoming few years so they can pay for that. Even if they don’t want to sell alcohol it might be best for the university if they do.