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DESTIN, FL – The presidents and chancellors of the SEC voted Friday to allow their member schools to set their own policies for selling alcohol at stadiums.
"Our institutions will have autonomy in the availability of alcohol based on certain expectations of the entire conference," said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey on Friday. Spring SEC meetings at the Hilton Sandestin.
"There is no expectation that anyone makes alcohol available beyond clubs and suites."
Sankey said the vote was not unanimous and there were different opinions in the room.
Georgia Sports Director Greg McGarity told DawgNation on Friday that the UGA administration would review its policies and review options before deciding whether to distribute alcohol at Sanford Stadium.
"We will take this information and discuss internally and externally and make decisions," McGarity said. "There is obviously a lot more to do."
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Sankey said the conversation about league-level alcohol sales had been going on since about 2010. Other wheels of change were set in motion during the first vote of this type at the SEC when the league has set up a task force to look more closely at the issue in the past year.
Florida Sports Director Scott Stricklin said the results were revealing.
"It does not seem that the places that introduced it (the sales of alcohol) ignited, so maybe it was not as deadly as we feared it" said Stricklin. "The motivation you hear is that you could eliminate other problems because you have a more controlled environment for adult drinks, instead of people playing in the parking lot."
Previous SEC regulations throughout the league restricted the sale of alcohol to controlled private areas, such as skyboxes. Beer can be sold at SEC games, but only in areas designated as premium seats.
The NCAA removed what was a longstanding ban on selling alcohol at last spring's championships, and more than 50 FBS-level programs currently allow the sale of alcohol at all stages.
There is no indication that Georgia will change its current policy, according to comments from Jere Morehead, president of the UGA, on Thursday.
"I think we understood well at UGA," said Morehead, who was in his seventh year as president of the school. "I do not see that we are making any significant changes."
Morehead said Georgia was ready to "review" after Friday's vote in the league.
However, even if Georgia decided to change its policy of selling alcohol in stadiums, its implementation could take time.
McGarity noted that, for the time being, Sanford Stadium was not set up to sell seated liquor from a distribution point of view.
Stricklin said it would be a problem for the entire league, even for schools that decide to sell seats in general.
"We have a lot of traditional stadiums, it's a good way to say" old, "said Stricklin. It depends on the level of your preparation. a little more to have set up the draw apparatus. "
Sankey said he expects a "mix" of decisions among SEC schools on how they will move forward with the decision, and to be the league's expectations when it comes to alcohol management.
"We are a conference that is moving away from decades of banning this activity and we want to proceed with caution," Sankey said.
"The hope is that it will be an overall positive experience. The fact that we are cautious and the divergent opinions indicate that the concerns are appropriate. "
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