You may soon be able to buy a beer at Penn State football games

The Nittany Lions’ football season is underway. And while spirits are high in State College, they may get even higher.

The board of trustees at Pennsylvania State University is likely to vote later this month on a proposal to begin selling beer to the general public at home football games in Beaver Stadium, which can hold more than 100,000 fans. Alcohol currently is only available in suites and the club section.

The move comes as the athletic department, led by new director Pat Kraft, looks to improve the game-day fan experience and raise revenue for, among other things, renovations to athletic facilities. It follows a hiring freeze put in place by the university last month as it faces a $191 million deficit, which the school said resulted in part from inflation, pandemic-related enrollment, and revenue strain and tuition freezes.

If approved, Penn State would join a prominent group: More than half the universities in the Big Ten Conference, including Rutgers, already sell beer and, in some cases, wine, to the general public at their games. Most recently, the University of Iowa, which started selling the potables at its athletic facilities in 2021, got more than $1.1 million in commissions, according to a report from the school. Alcohol also is sold at Lincoln Financial Field during Temple University football games.

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Penn State needs to find ways to raise revenue other than increasing tuition, said trustee Mark Dambly. And with so many options to view the game other than going to the stadium, the university must remain competitive in drawing in-person fans, he said.

“We’re far behind our peer group in offering that as an amenity,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Penn State officials said the plan is still in development, as they work through safety protocols and operational details. University officials offered no revenue projections or start date.

But if a vote comes at the board’s Sept. 23 meeting, there would be six home football games left this season to pilot the program. While some news outlets reported sales could begin as soon as the Sept. 24 home game against Central Michigan, that’s not definite.

There’s still much to be discussed, said Matthew Schuyler, trustees chair.

“I’m really pleased athletics is looking at various avenues for meeting fan expectations and considering revenue options,” he said. “I am looking forward to discussing this at the upcoming trustees meeting and learning about related safety measures that will be important for any such approval and implementation.”

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One consideration is limiting each person 21 and older to a certain amount of alcohol. Penn State imposed limits when alcohol was sold at the Bryce Jordan Center for the Garth Brooks concert and at the stadium for the Blake Shelton concert. (There is no current plan to begin selling alcohol at Penn State events at the Bryce Jordan Center.)

Some schools with in-stadium alcohol sales have said the move can decrease heavy drinking during pre-game tailgating because fans know they can drink inside. Some also said there was no increase in problem behavior after alcohol sales started.

“We have found incidents related to alcohol have actually declined since we started selling alcohol in the stadium,” said Jerry Emig, associate athletics director at Ohio State University.

But on a college campus where drinking remains a concern, no doubt there will be concerns.

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“I don’t have a problem with it, but I think some local residents might,” said Jesse Barlow, president of State College Borough Council and a Penn State computer science and engineering professor.

He said council gets pushback when it waives its open-bottle ordinance for some downtown events.

Barlow acknowledged that there are incidents with student drinking, but he said it tends to be limited to apartment buildings and dorms and big events like State Patty’s Day, an annual pre-celebration of St. Patrick’s Day at Penn State.

“I just don’t see this as something that is going to make a big difference in that problem at all,” he said.

Larry Catá Backer, former faculty senate chair and an international affairs professor, said he saw no issues with the plan either, as long as it’s carried out thoughtfully and responsibly. It’s important to have an expectation that adults will behave well, he said.

“If you don’t treat people responsibly, they aren’t going to act responsibly,” he said.

Jim Verna, 58, a season ticket holder and longtime Penn State fan, said he doesn’t oppose the school trying alcohol sales and understands the need to generate revenue. But he wondered whether it would be successful, given the deep tradition of tailgating before games, and stadium concession lines that are already long.

“I just don’t know what the demand is going to be,” said Verna, an Eagleville resident and managing director for a national energy company.

He also questioned whether the price of in-stadium beer will deter some potential buyers, and how the university will handle the student section — a mix of underage students and those 21 or older.

“I think the logistics could be very challenging for them,” he said.

Verna’s son, Will, a 22-year-old Penn State senior, said he’s actually surprised it took Penn State this long to sell alcohol.

“I think they will make a lot of money off it and students will be for it,” he said.

Penn State trustee Anthony Lubrano said if Kraft, who began leading Penn State athletics July 1 after stints at Boston College and Temple, recommends the sale of alcohol at games, he’ll support it because of his confidence in Kraft.

“I think he’s a breath of fresh air for this university,” Lubrano said.

In addition to Rutgers and Iowa, the other Big Ten schools that sell alcohol in their stadiums include Maryland, Illinois, Purdue, Ohio State, Minnesota, and Indiana, according to Penn State.

In addition, half the schools in the Power 5 conferences, which are the biggest in college football and include the Big Ten, are selling beer and/or wine at their home football games as well, Penn State said.

Penn State is drawing from those schools’ experiences in developing its plans, a university official said.

Rutgers, which started the practice in 2019, requires ID and has a two-alcoholic beverage limit per person and discontinues alcohol sales at the end of the third quarter. Last year, alcohol sales at its stadium, which is about half the size of Penn State’s, totaled about $850,000, with the university receiving commissions of about $152,000, a university spokesperson said.

The University of Iowa said that more than 80% of fans reported alcohol sales had a positive effect or no effect on their game-day experience in 2021-22. It also showed its department of public safety gave out 24 game-day citations in 2021, compared with an average of 33 in the previous five years, excluding 2020 when games weren’t held because of COVID-19.

The school’s program, however, acknowledges the detrimental effects of problem drinking. About 30% of its alcohol sale commissions — or $340,000 — was devoted to initiatives by its alcohol harm reduction committee, aimed at lowering high-risk drinking.

Penn State is also looking at options to further support alcohol education with some of the revenue.