By Maleesa Johnson
Staff Writer
Water is more welcome than ever this coming weekend as the Bears turn up the heat at Floyd Casey Stadium.
Any water bottle, disposable or reusable, will be allowed at the game against Buffalo this weekend.
As reported by the Lariat on Wednesday, many students were confused by the water bottle policy at last week’s game against Wofford. Attendants were to allow two water bottles per person but were not sure about the type of bottles to permit.
Nick Joos, executive associate athletics director for external affairs, said miscommunication of the policy was the reason for plastic or reusable bottles being thrown away.
Students are allowed to take in reusable water bottles as well as disposable. The only restrictions are on the size and number of water bottles. Bottles must not be more than a gallon in size and, in congruence with the rule last week, each person may have two bottles.
“That was the original intent of the policy, but again, whenever you change something and other people are at the gates working and administering, there are opportunities where miscommunications can happen,” Joos said. “There was some miscommunication among the staffers who work for us on game day as to what was allowed in and what was allowed out.”
As long as the water bottles fall within these guidelines and contain only water, they will be allowed into the stadium, regardless of how full or empty they are at the time of entry. Should a bag checker or event staff suspect that a bottle contains alcohol, law enforcement personnel at the gate will be notified.
“We’ve had better education with our staff that will be at those gates, we will go over that again at the meeting that our staff has with those folks on site at game day, and we’ve also gotten the release out to the media to get the word out,” Joos said. “Hopefully this will make it a little more clear.”
Water containers such as CamelBak bladders or other backpack- style water receptacles are not permitted in the stadium. As always, glass is also not allowed.
