University of Arkansas Athletics Inc. launches what figures to be its newest moneymaking venture this week when beer and wine become available inside parts of Razorback Stadium.
Beginning with Saturday's home opener against Nichols State, the 11,800 people seated in the suite or indoor club areas will be able to purchase alcohol. Questions about what brands will be offered have come up in a number of conversations the last few weeks.
Representatives from the UA and Sodexo, the company that handles concessions and catering on campus, tell me a mix of MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch products will be sold. Included will be Coors Light (official beer of the Arkansas Razorback Sports Network), Miller Lite, Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra and Blue Moon.
McBride Distributing and Premium Brands, both based in Northwest Arkansas, each will service the stadium. McBride carries Anheuser-Busch beverages, and Premium Brands distributes MillerCoors products locally.
More than two months removed from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division's approval of Sodexo's application to sell at Razorback Stadium, it is still anybody's guess how much money this will generate for the parties involved. The University of Minnesota, as we've noted here before, somehow lost about $16,000 in its first year of sales. West Virginia University, on the other hand, has never made less than a half-million dollars in alcohol sales, though it should be noted that all of the 60,000-seat Milan Pusker Stadium is wet and not just part of the seating as is the case in Fayetteville.
Arkansas, which has an $89 million athletic department budget for 2014-15, is projecting $2 million in all concession sales, up 11 percent from 2013-14. That is an increase of nearly $210,000 although the UA tells me it is a reflection of adding an additional football home game and not a direct result of beer and wine sales.
With less than a week remaining, there are still some questions about how this will work. We don't know what the split on beer sales will be between Sodexo and Arkansas. Believe it or not, we don't know what the pricing in the stadium will be. Cost and format (draft? bottle? can?) were presumably among the "finalizing other specifics" taking place last week when questions about alcohol sales were submitted.
One thing we do know is that none of the beer offered in the stadium is brewed locally. Admittedly it wasn't much more than wishful thinking, but the hope was that we might see somebody from the state's growing craft beer scene -- Diamond Bear, Saddlebock, Fossil Cove, whomever -- included alongside the usual suspects.
As the craft beer scene in Arkansas continues to grow, we all agree it would be great for folks cheering their favorite local team to have access to their favorite local beer, right?
While we're talking local beer business...
Thanks to emerging Northwest Arkansas brewers like Core and Ozark Beer Co. (and surely a mainstay like North Little Rock's Diamond Bear), Arkansas was ranked No. 39 on a Thrillist/Yahoo list of the nation's top states for beer. Oregon, which generates $3 billion -- BILLION! -- in craft beer sales annually and the inspiration for the Fayetteville Ale Trail, ranks No. 1 on the list.
Core Brewing and Ozark Beer Co., according to the post, are "leading a serious charge from the South" and "in 10 years, after the brewers get more comfortable, expect to see Arkansas as a real contender."
Speaking of the Fayetteville Ale Trail...
September marks the one-year anniversary of the self-guided tour of local breweries in Northwest Arkansas.
Fayetteville's Convention & Visitors Bureau launched the ale trail to generate interest in craft beer. Hard numbers on how many visitors the Ale Trail has generated aren't readily available, but there have been more than 17,000 passports distributed and 20,000 printed.
Stops on the trail include Apple Blossom Brewing Co., Fossil Cove Brewing Co., Tanglewood Branch Beer Co. and West Mountain Brewing Co. in Fayetteville, Saddlebock Brewery and Core Brewing and Distilling Co. of Springdale, and Ozark Beer Co.of Rogers.
Assorted giveaways and events are scheduled for Sept. 15-18, including a screening of cult classic Strange Brew on Sept. 16 at Fossil Cove. More information can be found at fayettevillealetrail.com.
If you have a tip, call Chris Bahn at (479) 365-2972 or email him at
SundayMonday Business on 08/31/2014