MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Badgers are preparing for their third home game of the season as they face off against national powerhouse, the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Campus police and fire personnel are also preparing for the busy weekend.
“With [new students], football and basically almost doubling the size of our campus community on a football Saturday with all of the fans we bring in here, it is a busy time of year for us,” said Marc Lovicott. Lovicott is the executive director of communications for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department.
Lovicott said his department has gotten good at handling game day crowds and freshman students over the years.
This year, Wisconsin Athletics started selling alcohol at Camp Randall Stadium to the general public for the first time.
So far, Lovicott said this has not had an impact on his department.
“We are actually not seeing any significant increases,” Lovicott said. “The very first game, granted it was a holiday weekend, it was a night game, we actually saw the number of police contacts and alcohol-related issues and arrests go down.”
According to data from the UW-Madison Police Department, the highest number of underage alcohol citations and alcohol-related game ejections recorded during a single game in 2023 was 24.
Most data from other home games in 2023 had similar numbers.
This year's home games, where alcohol was being sold in the stadium, saw a similar trend.
Lovicott said he was not surprised by that.
“All of our counterparts across the country have noted that when alcohol was added to their stadium, the number of incidents they have dealt with has gone down,” Lovicott said. “We are experiencing the same thing and we hope it is true for the rest of the season .”
Chris Hammes is the assistant chief of medical operations with the Madison Fire Department.
He said while game days are always a busy time for his team, alcohol is not the main concern for his station.
“Heat is the biggest factor,” Hammes said. “When it is warm out, we tend to be much busier for our medical responses inside the stadium. So as the season goes on and gets cooler, the volume of our calls definitely decreases.”
Like Lovicott, Hammes said the selling of alcohol at the stadium has not impacted the station's job much, so far.
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He said warm temperatures are expected for Saturday's game against Alabama and he stressed the importance of drinking responsibly.
“In the first couple of early games, we get 20 or so calls inside the stadium and we will see 30 or so people visit first aid,” Hammes said. “We have upped our normal staffing that we would have for the football game.”