The lowdown on the rollout of public beer sales at Georgia home football games

The gameday experience for Georgia football fans at Sanford Stadium starting Saturday will include a chance to enjoy a cold beer, and not just at your tailgate.

Public alcohol sales are finally here inside the home of the Bulldogs .

Georgia is certainly prepared for the roll-out, stocking 100,156 cans of beer and seltzer on site for the game against Tennessee Tech.

Here’s everything you need to know about beer sales for Saturday and five home games that will follow this season.

What are the alcohol offerings at Georgia games? How much does it cost?

There are three categories to know.

Domestic beers are $10 for 16 ounces: Miller Lite, Coors Light and Michelob Ultra.

Premium beers/malt beverage are $11 for 16 ounces: High Noon, Modelo, Twisted Tea

Speciality beers/seltzer are $12 for 19 ounces: Tropicalia, Classic City Lager, Sip’Em Seltzer. Those are all from Athens-based Creature Comforts Brewing Company, the official craft beer of Georgia athletics.

Price points at other UGA athletic venues had been $8 and $9 for beer for 12 and 16 ounces.

Georgia will now sell Athletic non-alcoholic beer for $10.

How is the beer served to Georgia fans?

All of these alcohol choices are served in cans, according to assistant athletic director John Bateman who oversees concessions.

“The operation will be crack and go,” he said. “Instead of crack and pour, we will just do like you have at most of the venues that people attend, crack and go. Once the ID has been checked and approved, we will crack it and you can go.”

Bateman said that’s the same way it was served for fans who purchased beer at baseball games this spring.

Georgia has served alcohol at Stegeman Coliseum for men’s and women’s basketball games and for baseball, softball and tennis for three seasons.

Georgia and Auburn are the final SEC schools to offer public alcohol sales.

Soccer and volleyball are also adding alcohol sales at Georgia this season.

Where in Sanford Stadium can fans buy beer?

Plenty of places. There will be 59 locations in all with 162 points of sale (or registers) at every level of the stadium except the 600 level. That includes on the Gillis Bridge and Reed Plaza. There will be a beer garden at the Gate 7 area, two large tents for sales below the bridge and two areas on the bridge itself.

Sales continue to be by card only with no cash transactions. There will be no vendors selling beer up and down aisles. They will only be sold at stands.

Those locations where beer is sold also will sell water and some snacks. They are not being sold at general concession stands where hot dogs, Chick-fil-A or Pappa Johns pizza is sold.

When can I buy beer during the Georgia football game?

Alcohol will go on sale when gates open two hours before kickoff and will stop at the end of the third quarter. That’s following the SEC policy. So pay attention if Georgia is driving for a touchdown with two minutes left in the third.

How else has Georgia prepared for adding alcohol sales?

Georgia is turning to concessions and vending partner Eats2Seats for some 200 people to staff alcohol operations.

Upgrades costing nearly $1 million were allocated for refrigeration upgrades. Georgia will have seven new walk-in coolers.

How do alcohol sales fit in with Georgia’s other gameday offerings?

Here’s what Bateman said about that: “We consider this a fan amenity part of the gameday experience. As you know, (athletic director) Josh (Brooks) is big on creating great value for our fans and especially families that attend our games.”

Georgia still has value pricing on core items: hot dog ($3), popcorn ($3) and candy ($2.50) and bottled Coca-Cola soft drinks ($2.50) and bottled Dasani Water ($2).

How much does Georgia project to make in revenue for beer sales in Sanford Stadium this season?

The school is expecting to sell 45,000 beers per football game and projects revenue generated from alcohol sales across all its athletic venues to be $1.3 to $1.4 million in revenue per year, Bateman said.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: The lowdown on the rollout of public beer sales at Georgia home football games