The University of Arizona's athletics Road Tour will not be stopping on Tempe's Mill Avenue after all.
The second stop of the tour — featuring Wildcats athletic director Dave Heeke, football coach Kevin Sumlin and others — will take place May 21 at Social Tap, 4312 N. Brown Ave. in Scottsdale.
The Road Tour stop originally was scheduled for Pedal Haus Brewery, which is literally steps from the campus of rival Arizona State. Dan Regan, general manager of Pedal Haus Brewery, told the Star he pulled the plug on the event once he learned who was booking it.
Regan said hosting the UA would have been “in direct contradiction to our sponsorships with ASU … and our community responsibility.
“We’re on ASU’s campus. We do a lot of work with ASU athletics.
“Once clarification came down, we had to pass on the event.”
A Tempe bar similarly bailed on a plan UA tour stop in 2013. A year later, ASU stopped at Tucson's El Saguarito Restaurant on its annual caravan. El Saguarito had provided food at UA games for more than a decade, but found its contract canceled shortly after hosting the Devils. The restaurant's owner sued the UA for $110,000 in damages.
In February, Tempe's College Bar and Grill announced it would not be admitting any Wildcats fans the night of a scheduled game between the UA and ASU. The bar lifted its ban after the game, but charges fans of "them" — it won't even use the UA's name — double, regardless of the day.
Regan said Pedal Haus Brewery was still in the “preliminary phase” of scheduling the UA tour stop — even though the school already had advertised it. A tweet promoting the event has been taken down.
The UA Road Tour began April 26 in Tucson and is scheduled to conclude June 8 in Flagstaff.
