University of Alabama Issues Statement on Alcohol Sales, Ends Mask Mandate

Dispute with city has led Alabama to hold off on alcohol sales, while the university is dropping its COVID protocols.

Author:
Christopher Walsh
Publish date:
Feb 15, 2022 1:52 PM EST

In this story:

The University of Alabama made a pair of announcements that could have far-reaching impacts with Crimson Tide sports fans on Tuesday.

On the heels of University of Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne making a public statement that alcohol sales at athletic venues would not immediately proceed as planned, university president Stuart Bell followed suit on Tuesday afternoon.

At issue is an amendment to the city code that was approved by the city council last week, which would add a service fee increase based on occupancy at any event where alcohol is sold.

"The University of Alabama supports and appreciates the many public safety officers who work gameday, including UAPD, and City, County and State officials," Bell's statement said.

"UA Athletics and our fans currently pay more in ticket and concession sales taxes than all but one SEC school. Those sales taxes go to support the City, County, and State, and their officers. The City, County, and State also receive significant sales taxes from restaurants, bars, retail outlets and hotels generated by our athletics and campus events. We believe the success of our athletics programs and growth of our university have had a tremendous positive impact on our community.

"The University was surprised by the City’s arbitrary service fee. Therefore, the planned new sales at our UA venues will remain on hold as we review the impact this fee could have on our University, Athletics, and fans."

Meanwhile, the university notified faculty that it will end its mask mandate and COVID protocols effective Monday.

It notified faculty of the following:

Masking will no longer be mandatory in indoor locations.
Campus-provided quarantine and isolation space will be phased out over the remainder of the semester.

The changes were made due to a decrease both statewide and locally in COVID cases, following a dramatic spike in January due to the omicron variant.

The Tuscaloosa city council voted earlier this month to approve the university's license request for alcohol sales. It wants to use the fee on events where alcohol is sold towards paying public safety operations.

However the majority of UA athletic events are staffed by UAPD and private security rather than public safety workers.

"It is very unfortunate that the City of Tuscaloosa's plan would unreasonably target Alabama Athletics and our fans with a service fee on all tickets where alcohol is sold, even tickets sold to children," Byrne said in his statement Monday. "There are so many positive impacts our athletics events — and the University as a whole — have provided that are being discounted, including the extraordinary economic and tax benefits to the city.

"Contrary to reports, we currently pay 10% sales tax on all ticket sales with 3% going directly to the City," Byrne wrote. "That, alone, is estimated to be $1.3 million for this fiscal year. Our concessionaire also pays the City 10% sales tax on concession revenue from all athletics events, generating approximately $125,000 annually. In addition to the taxes paid directly from Alabama Athletics, fans and visiting teams also pay City lodging taxes for overnight stays and City sales taxes at restaurants, bars and stores. And while we greatly appreciate the partnership with and services provided by the City public safety personnel, our athletics events are primarily staffed by UAPD, our security resource officers and privately-hired security.

"For these reasons and more, we don't think this is a reasonable approach that the City is attempting to take, and pending further review of this service fee, Alabama Athletics will not be moving forward with alcohol sales at this time."

Tuscaloosa mayor Walt Maddox has said there needs to be more discussion about the issue.

"I respect Greg's opinion and his record of accomplishment," Maddox said in a statement to Patch. "I respect even more the City's responsibility to provide the safest environment possible. This issue is not new and deserves continued, personal and thoughtful discussion with all parties involved. Our police officers, firefighters, and paramedics deserve our best to ensure the safest environment possible for citizens and guests of the City of Tuscaloosa."