UT General Counsel Beauchamp Brogan led UT system officials in making the announcement June 25, 1987, that those who leased the 42 skyboxes under construction in Neyland Stadium would be allowed to bring alcohol to the boxes and consume it during football games. According to Brogan, the board of trustees’ policy prohibiting alcohol in the stadium and on other campus property would not be breached because, as he was quoted in the Daily Beacon, “the policy in effect applies to students, particularly those underage, and to people on the job.” Executive Vice President Joe Johnson added that the skyboxes were leased property and that the use of alcohol would be an element in the contract with the person or group leasing the box.
Students called for a consistent policy, and the Student Government Association (SGA) issued a resolution expressing strong opposition to the practice as inconsistent with board policy. On July 28, following nearly a month of charges of inconsistency from local media and students, the UT system reversed its position and announced that the prohibition against alcohol would also apply to the skyboxes. Proposed regulations governing the transport and use of alcohol were to have held that the liquor had to be placed in the box before game day, that it could be consumed only in the box, and that a patron’s time in the box would be restricted to two hours before the game and two hours after the game. Permitting alcohol and implementation of the rules for use and consumption were quietly placed into effect with the opening of additional skyboxes on the east side of the stadium.