While top-ranked Tennessee choked in the quarterfinals of the men’s SEC basketball tournament, fans huddled on Bridgestone's second-floor concourse to choke down beers and spiked seltzers. They heard the cheers as star Vols guard Zakai Zeigler hit a few late three-pointers, only to see the basket a few seconds later on a TV tape delay.
City leaders have locked down the tourist magnet tournament through at least 2025, praising its economic impact and tax revenue — a public benefit often driven by alcohol sales. Unwitting game-goers travel to Nashville expecting the freedom to watch live sports and drink at the same time. Once inside Bridgestone Arena, they quickly learn the venue’s new rules.
“It’s the SEC’s rules — not our rules,” says one Bridgestone enforcer who asked the Scene to remain anonymous, citing professional concerns. “Come to a Predators game, come to a concert, you can drink where you want.”
Printed SEC signs and uniformed Bridgestone staff enforce the treacherous path to a beer buzz at this weekend’s basketball championship. The SEC bans alcohol sales and consumption in the actual arena (no beers in seats) and in Bridgestone’s main general admission area, where typically flowing tap booths are shuttered.
Thirsty fans must somehow make it to the club level — technically off-limits for most of the arena — home to the facility’s few open bars. From there, fans have three options: chug quickly, join the rowdy TV audience watching the game they paid to see live, or smuggle alcohol back down to the bowl in an opaque container. The Scene witnessed evidence of all three, as well as a secret fourth option in which patrons visiting the club level crept up to the section entrance at the edge of the balcony, drinks in hand, to sneak a peek at the floor. Private club seats are alcohol-immunity bubbles.
The SEC revised its alcohol policy in 2019, lifting a blanket ban on stadium alcohol sales. Most (not all) SEC schools have since adopted alcohol sales at sporting events, a primary driver of concession revenue and associated tax dollars.
