Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently signed a new law allowing public universities to sell alcohol at sporting events. However, many universities in Michigan were already allowing for the sale through special one-day licenses, also referred to as “special act” licenses, which permits alcohol sales at sporting events.
In Fall of 2022, Central Michigan University Board of Trustees voted to allow the university to be able to apply for special act licenses.
During the 2022 Fall and 2023 Spring semesters, CMU applied for six licenses – four at football games, and two at basketball games.
Aaron Mills, CMU spokesperson, said the new law will most likely not have a large impact on the school’s selling of liquor.
“It’s bringing it more to the public’s attention, I think, and making it more of a conversation for those universities that maybe haven’t pursued it in the past. So we did this past fall, and we’ve seen it and like I said, no issues and good success on our end,” Mills said.
In a press release, Governor Gretchen Whitmer said the new bill could also help reduce the likelihood of binge drinking before games.
Mills said that since the university has started selling alcohol, they have not noticed any substantial change in alcohol-related incidents.
“In conversations that we’ve had with CMUPD as far as how things went from this past academic school year at our athletic events where alcohol sales were permitted, CMPD didn’t notice any differences, any changes one way or another in disturbances or incidents where alcohol would've been related in any way,” he said.
Mills said the school has proper safety measures in place in the case of any alcohol-related problems.
