Rutgers is announcing a plan on Wednesday to expand beer and wine sales at sporting events, including football and basketball games, starting this fall, NJ Advance Media learned.

While alcohol has been served at Rutgers football games inside the Audi Club, the 2019 season will mark the first time beer and wine will available for purchase to fans in general-seating areas throughout HighPoint.com Stadium.

The alcohol-sales expansion will include general seating areas for sporting events at the Rutgers Athletic Center, Yurcak Field, as well as at baseball and softball games.

Rutgers officials have long studied the pros and cons of selling alcohol inside their 52,454-seat football stadium and in their 8,000-seat basketball arena in Piscataway.

"This decision was the result of a year-long review of the experience and data from across the college landscape,'' Rutgers Athletics Director Pat Hobbs said in a statement.

For decades, it was frowned upon at collegiate event. But the NCAA Executive Council recently approved alcohol sales at NCAA Championship events.

In 2018, 51 of the 129 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision programs sold alcohol in general-seating areas of their football stadium. Included on that list are four Big Ten schools — Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio State and Purdue. While six Big Ten schools don’t permit alcohol in their stadiums, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Penn State sell alcohol in premium-seating areas.

The plan to sell beer at football games was vetted and supported by the Rutgers University Senate, a group representing faculty, students, staff, administrators and alumni that serves as the principle advisory body to university President Robert Barchi.

In April 2018, the Rutgers University Student Assembly — the student government for the undergraduate student body at Rutgers-New Brunswick — passed a resolution to the Rutgers University Senate that supported expanded beer sales at sporting events. Their study showed alcohol-related incidents decreased when a venue provided a controlled environment for alcohol sales.

Officials at the University of Maryland and at Ohio State have produced statistics in recent years that show ejections from their stadiums decreased since they began selling beer throughout the stadium. The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reported Ohio State’s public-safety records listed 24 ejections in 2017 compared with 103 the year before. Maryland officials told the school’s newspaper, The Diamondback, in June 2017 alcohol sales at sporting events led to a decrease in drinking-related misconduct at games.

"Universities have seen a dramatic drop in alcohol related incidents on game day by providing a controlled environment for beer and wine sales,'' Hobbs said. "We will work closely with RUPD to achieve similar results at Rutgers.''

Citing data from other Big Ten schools, the Rutgers police department publicly endorsed the Rutgers Athletics plan to sell alcohol at games.

"Data from peer institutions shows a correlation between a decrease in alcohol-related incidents when a venue provides a controlled environment for beer and wine sales,” Rutgers University Chief of Police Kenneth Cop said in a statement. “The RUPD will continue to be vigorous in working with Rutgers Athletics to promote public safety at athletic events and expects attendees to respect all applicable laws to ensure a safe and enjoyable game day experience.”

Not everyone is on board with the plan, however. Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler issued a strong rebuke of Rutgers’ proposal, saying no one from his administration “agreed to let the university open up a 52,000-seat bar’’ in his township.

In a statement, Wahler said Piscataway officials received no prior notice or input from Rutgers prior to their announcement and called on Gov. Phil Murphy to veto the university’s Board of Governors minutes which would have the effect of nullifying the measure.

The plan to expand alcohol sales at sporting events wasn’t an action item at any recent Board of Governors meetings and doesn’t require approval from the university’s governing body, Rutgers officials say. Even if it did, under the Rutgers Act of 1956, a state law, the New Jersey governor does not have approval of actions by the university’s Board of Governors.

“Selling beer and wine to all fans may be an easy money maker for the university, but then it wrongly falls to Piscataway Township to deal with the fall out,” Wahler said in a statement. “Our local roads shouldn’t become highways for drunk drivers. If this proposal moves forward and if the university maintains its unwillingness to work with local officials, the Township reserves the right to take all necessary action to protect public safety which can include DWI checkpoints on game days.”

The selling of beer is expected to result in a revenue spike for one of the most heavily subsidized athletic departments in the nation. Ticket sales and concession sales are expected to both dramatically increase.

"This is part of a broader effort to improve the overall fan experience in the years ahead, from concessions to apparel sales,” Hobbs said. "We want our venues to be the destination for our fans here in New Jersey and across the New York metropolitan area.”

Last month, Rutgers released a 58-page report produced by College Sports Solutions. In it, CSS recommended the selling of alcohol at sporting events as a way to increase its revenue production.

While Ohio State reported $1.35 million in net revenue as a result of its newly implemented plan to sell alcohol inside its 104,944-seat football stadium, a more realistic example is Purdue, which has a comparable average attendance and stadium capacity (57,236) to Rutgers.

According to a January 2019 report in the Lafayette (Ind.) Journal & Courier, alcohol sales nearly doubled in Purdue’s first two years of selling beer and wine in general seating areas, spiking to $1.063 million in 2018 after a net-profit of $567,778 in 2017.

Rutgers officials told NJ Advance Media the net revenue from alcohol sales will serve to offset scholarship costs, which exceed $16 million annually in an athletics department with more than 600 athletes.

As part of the management plan, Rutgers police and security officials are expected to work closely with athletics-department officials to ensure a safe environment to permit alcohol sales.

As part of the plan, Rutgers is expected to mandate a two-alcoholic beverage limit per person on every transaction and alcohol sales will be cut-off at a pre-determined time (likely at the end of the third quarter) at football games.

Rutgers’ event-staff personnel will be required to complete alcohol-management training and security staff will serve as alcohol monitors at points of sale.

In addition, HighPoint.com Stadium and the RAC will have designated areas known as alcohol-free zones.

NJ Advance Media also learned that Rutgers began the request-for-proposal (RFP) process Wednesday morning to partner with a new food-services provider. Rutgers in 2012 signed a 10-year deal with Sodexo, but a person familiar with the negotiation told NJ Advance Media that Rutgers and Sodexo mutually agreed to terminate the existing contract, although Sodexo could be a bidder in the next RFP process.

The new food-services provider is expected to secure the required licenses to serve alcohol at sporting events. Infrastructure costs associated with outfitting HighPoint.com Stadium and the RAC with equipment and signage are expected to be incurred by the next food- and alcohol-services provider.

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.