UA basketball fans will have a chance to enjoy wine and cold beer at McKale Center starting next season.
On Thursday, the Arizona State Liquor Board gave the green light for the University of Arizona to sell beer and wine during home basketball games.
The five-person board was unanimous in its decision on the new liquor license, assured by UA officials that the school would take a number of precautions to make sure alcohol is handled responsibly at McKale Center.
Board member Michael Widener pressed university officials on how they were going to ensure alcohol sales will not impact traffic after UA games.
UA Associate Vice President Joel Hauff assured the board that the university has traffic control measures already in place and those are unlikely to change.
Widener noted, though, that the UA has been selling alcohol — albeit in smaller venues — for a number of years.
“This is not your first rodeo,” he said.
University officials had initially hoped to start selling alcohol at McKale as early as January, confident that would occur after getting the backing of the Tucson City Council in early December.
However, a written objection to the proposed sales filed by a Tucson resident who was concerned that selling beer and wine would lead to various alcohol-related problems delayed the board’s vote to Thursday.
The man who filed the objection, a UA alumnus, did not attend the hearing.
Hauff assured the board the UA will take steps to make sure games are safe experiences, with increased security planned when alcohol goes on sale.
The sales will be handled by a third-party vendor hired by the UA.
Alcohol will be sold in plastic cups — no bottles or cans — and the cost will range from $6 to $8 a cup.
He said alcohol sales will be cut off roughly 45 minutes before a game ends. “We are not a bar,” Hauff said.
Money, he said, was not a motivating factor in seeking alcohol sales — noting the desire to sell beer and wine at McKale was in response to numerous requests from fans.
The university already sells alcohol at city-owned and off-campus Hi Corbett Field for baseball games as well as at ice hockey games at the Tucson Convention Center.
The support of the liquor board to sell alcohol at McKale bolsters the possibility the UA may also consider selling beer and wine during football games at Arizona Stadium, Hauff said.
Currently, beer and wine is sold on a limited basis in private areas of the stadium during football games.
