UA President Stuart Bell Fires Back at City's "Arbitrary" Service

On Monday, the University of Alabama announced plans to halt alcohol sales at its athletic venues.

The Tuscaloosa City Council adopted a resolution last September to include a $1 service fee to any ticket sold for events where alcohol is sold, and earlier this month unanimously amended that law to charge $2 for tickets sold for events that seat between 20,000 and 50,000 people and $3 for any event with more than 50,000 attendees.

University of Alabama President Stuart Bell released a statement about the ongoing feud between the City of Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama.

University of Alabama President Stuart Bell

The University of Alabama supports and appreciates the many public safety officers who work gameday, including UAPD, and City, County and State officials.

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.

This is an ongoing story, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread for more updates on this matter as they become available.