Alcohol at Memorial Stadium

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
One summer day, Summer Sunday a long time ago, my
family and some other families were planning for a day
at a horse show, but somebody forgot the beer, so
we had to drive across the county to a little
off sale place called Kraus's Corner Corner with a k
I asked, why are we going across town just to
get some beer? Because it was just outside the city limits.

(00:24):
One of the dads reminded me, Jimbo, Lincoln is known
for two things, no beer on Sundays and to back
that up, a church on every corner. Well, I don't
know how many of those churches are still around, but
beer sales are now twenty four to seven these days,
including Memorial Stadium. University Board of Regents approved beer at

(00:44):
Husker football games next fall. They've already tapped the keg
for Husker games at Pinnaclebank Arena at Haymarket Park, but
technically those buildings aren't on campus. Of course, adult beverages
at Husker games dates back to Guy Chamberlain and Jump Steam.
Those Red Cups or its ancestors have been around a while,

(01:05):
maybe even through prohibition. After all, Husker fans from the
farms and ranches to the boardrooms and factory floors have
tuned up for kickoff with a cold one or a
bloody Mary red beer screwdriver for over a century. So
what's the problem with taps inside the place? Now? Well,
it's a practical matter nothing. My question is why for what?

(01:26):
Fill the seats? They've sold out every home game for
sixty two years money even after the court ordered billion
dollar settlement forcing schools to share revenues with the players.
Nebraska can handle it. Thanks to thirty years of seat donations,
monster fundraising, sound money management. Nebraska is one of the
wealthiest athletic departments in the country. It's no secret public information,

(01:49):
especially if you know where to look. To me, there's
a shade of hypocrisy here Sunday through Friday. That is
a dry campus. Your eye. Campus is code for no beer,
no booze, no weed, no place, not dorm rooms, not
frat houses. Nowhere. Now they selectively enforce that. Sigmkay somehow

(02:14):
gets a lot more attention than able five. But the
point is clear. You house and drink the juice on campus,
you get into a pack of trouble. For forty years,
starting with a formation of mothers against drunk driving, A
crusade against underage drinking, binge drinking, and all of the
bad stuff that happens when kids drink too much has

(02:35):
blanketed the country. So Sunday through Monday, UNL I should
say Sunday through Friday. UNL orders the students to get
on the wagon, but on Saturdays let the good times
roll in. Voting seven to one to approve this. The
regents were quick to say the SuDS aren't going to

(02:55):
change our Nebraska nice behavior at the games, but they
left out the park about how drinking among college kids
is not good. Somehow these statistics eluded the regents. The
most recent numbers from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism estimate that about fifteen hundred college kids ages

(03:17):
eighteen to twenty four die from alcohol related unintentional injuries,
including motor vehicle crashes every year. Nearly seven hundred thousand
students eighteen to twenty four are assaulted by a drunk
fellow student. One in five college women are sexually assaulted
on campus every year. Police say alcohol is involved in

(03:40):
almost every case. Twenty five percent of college kids say
their academic performance suffers from too much available alcohol. Booze
increases suicide attempts, health problems, unsafe sexual behavior, and DUI
throw in vandalism. Given all of that, what is this message?
Do as I say, not as I do. The university

(04:03):
says some proceeds from beer sales will go to alcohol
awareness programs. Well, if you're pumping the kegs on game day,
awareness isn't a worry. So this is pretty much just
about following along and connecting with the next generation of fans. Today,
almost every Power five program now pours inside their stadium,
and fans under forty expect it just as they drink

(04:25):
at any other entertainment event, and Big Red will make
a lot of money, all of which is fine. But
next time something bad happens on campus and alcohol is
at the root of it, go easy on the kids.
It's what they know.