Georgia Bulldogs Jan 9, 2023; Inglewood, CA, USA; Detailed view of a Georgia Bulldogs helmet during the CFP national championship game at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Heading into 2024, the Georgia Bulldogs were the only SEC program was not set to allow alcohol sales at football games. But that’s finally going to change this year as athletics director Josh Brooks announced plans to start selling alcohol at Sanford Stadium starting this fall.

The decision is years in the making, and Brooks explained the move this week.

“We told you, this question’s come up. We wanted to be methodical about it, wanted to take our time to do it right,” Brooks said about the decision according to On3. “It wasn’t a race to just do something without proper preparation. I felt like by having a couple years to sell it at Stegeman, do it at baseball last year, we were able to work through some of the logistical challenges of it and be better prepared. It’s not something you want to rush into it. During that same time, we were able to take a lot of notes from our peers, the things that they went through, best practices. I feel we’re ready and prepared to take that on this fall.”

“It’s going to reasonable, but at the same time, in all honestly, as much as we’ve talked about concessions being family friendly and trying to take care of a family of four or five come to a game, this isn’t something where I feel that price or making it ‘cheap’ is important,” he added. “This is a luxury item, not a necessity item, so it’s not going to be something we value price. It will be fair and in line with most of our peers, but this is something we put a thought process on in making it a value item.”

Georgia had previously allowed alcohol sales at the club seating level and sold alcohol to the general public at other sporting events including men’s basketball and baseball back in 2022. However, 2024 will be the first time that alcohol will be sold at football games.

[On3]