It was a real eye opening experience getting to spend time at the Big East media days. While most reporters went around the room talking to the various coaches, asking the same questions over and over, I tried to take a different approach. I mainly talked to sports information directors about the stadium issues such as security, beer sales, expansions, renovations and neutral site games.

The main program I was interested in talking to was West Virginia since they are adding beer sales at a stadium that is already known for having extremely energetic, and at least in my experience often inebriated, fans. Of course, my personal experiences with the WVU fans the two times I have been to Puskar Stadium are probably a bit slanted since both games were “Backyard Brawls” and I wore Penn State clothing to both.

While a full press release with all of the security measures, particularly total police presence and jurisdiction numbers, that will be added to Puskar Stadium will not be available until later in August, I was able to get a few highlights of the program.

• Every single person buying a beer must me carded.
• The beer license is actually controlled by the vending partner, Sodexo and not the University.
• Beer sales will end mid-third quarter.
• There will be a limit of two beers purchased at a time by one individual.
• All beer sales employees will be trained on how to spot intoxicated patrons and be authorized to refuse sales.
• A designated driver program will be implemented in some capacity.
• All beer companies will have advertising throughout the stadium promoting responsible alcohol consumption.

I’ve been to Puskar stadium a few times, most recently for the backyard brawl in 2009, where I saw plenty of drinking in the stands among fans who sneaked in alcohol, including a guy dressed as Santa with a full bottle of jagermeister and cans of red bull to mix with it.

I will be very curious to see exactly how much security that the school plans to add when the release does come out and I will be even more curious to experience a game at Puskar stadium when I visit on October 1st.

Looking at other schools, I know that alcohol sales were not an issue at either Cincinnati or Syracuse when I have attended games at those schools, but both of those schools have fan bases that are very different from the fan base in West Virginia.

In talking with Doug Mosley from Cincinnati, it is clear that Cincinnati has a solid plan for handling beer sales at Nippert stadium. Their game day beer sales and alcohol sales license are handled by Aramark, and all of the Aramark vendors are trained extensively on handling unruly guests and are authorized to deny sales to any guest who appears to be intoxicated. Mr. Mosley also told me that while beer sales do help increase overall concession revenues, it is not a cash cow like some people believe it is. On a final note, Cincinnati also has a fan text messaging system that helps them identify guests who are interrupting the pleasure of those around them, a program that seems to be becoming more mainstream around the country.

I also talked to Sue Edson from Syracuse to see what kind of upgrade plans the University might have for the Carrier Dome since it is one of the older facilities in the conference. Edson said that last year Syracuse added Club 44, a Manhattan style bar for certain ticket holders and that there are plans to upgrade all of the concession areas inside the dome, but those upgrades are a slow work in progress. Something else that Edson made sure to mention was that Syracuse recently signed a deal to play 10 games over 20 years in the new Meadowlands Stadium.

Something that also intrigued me was how the Rutgers fans have reacted to the re-naming of the stadium to High Point Solutions Stadium. According to the school spokesperson, they have received very few complaints as most fans have accepted the stadium renaming as just a fact of the current economic direction of big-time athletics. Personally, as I have mentioned before, I am not a fan of this current direction and I think there are plenty of other ways to raise capital for athletics.

Finally, Big East director of communications, Chuck Sullivan, was kind enough to take a few moments and talk to me. I was interested in asking about was whether conferences play any role in trying to arrange out-of-conference opponents like they do in basketball. Sullivan informed me that since the schedule is only 12 games, and the schedule can play such a role in determining a teams shot at making the BCS title game, that the conference does not have any role in scheduling outside of conference games.

Of course, if you want something that isn’t stadium related, I did note that USF coach Skip Holtz called the new live-ball celebration rule “harsh,” saying that at some point it is going to affect a team and when it does, “it will be on ESPN 25 times in 25 minutes” which will be the point where everyone will be able to say, “this is what we have to do to avoid costing us a score.” I hate over-the-top celebration, and have always felt like a player should act like they have been in the end zone before, but I do agree that this rule is too much and unnecessary. I just hope it doesn’t cost a team a game, or a shot at a game like the silly ruling in the Pinstripe Bowl last year.