Yes, many college football stadiums do sell alcohol now, but it depends on the school, conference, and even the specific venue section.

Big picture

  • Over the last decade, selling alcohol inside college football stadiums has gone from uncommon to pretty normal.
  • A recent Associated Press survey of Power Five schools plus Notre Dame found that about 80% (55 of 69) now sell alcohol in public areas of their stadiums on game days.
  • Across all FBS programs, reporting in 2023 noted that roughly 88% of the 133 schools sold alcohol in stadiums that season.

Where alcohol is sold

Policies are not uniform; every school sets its own rules within state law.

  • Many schools offer beer and sometimes wine stadium‑wide to the general public.
  • Some only sell alcohol in “premium” areas like suites and club seats, not in regular seating.
  • A smaller group of schools still bans alcohol sales altogether for the general public at football games.

What kinds of drinks

  • Beer is the standard option, often domestic and light beers, with some venues adding craft options.
  • Quite a few schools also sell wine and canned cocktails or seltzers such as hard seltzer or flavored malt beverages.
  • Hard liquor is less common for general seating and is more often restricted to premium areas if allowed at all.

Rules and safety policies

To address binge drinking and underage drinking concerns, stadiums typically build in safeguards.

  • Age checks with 21+ wristbands or ID checks at point of sale.
  • Limits on the number of drinks per purchase (often two at a time) and cut‑off times, like halftime or the third quarter.
  • Some research on at least one large Midwestern university found that beginning in‑stadium alcohol sales did not increase alcohol‑related medical incidents overall compared with prior seasons.

Why schools are doing this

  • Revenue: Alcohol sales can represent a large share of concessions income and help athletic departments facing rising costs.
  • Fan experience: Offering in‑stadium drinks is seen as a way to keep fans from over‑drinking at tailgates or staying home to watch with cheaper alcohol.
  • Trend: After conferences like the SEC loosened restrictions on stadium‑wide sales, many other Power Five programs followed, leading to a rapid expansion since around 2019.

Bottom line: If you want to know “do they sell alcohol at college football games” for a specific school, you have to check that school’s current game‑day policy, because practices range from full stadium‑wide sales to premium‑only to no sales at all.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.