City approves alcohol sales at Myrtle Beach Sports Center

Those visiting the Myrtle Beach Sports Center will have the ability to purchase an alcoholic beverage during adult-themed events such as a mixed-martial arts fight or a billiards tournament.

In a split vote, Myrtle Beach City Council on Tuesday approved allowing the sale of beer, wine and spirits after the resolution had been continued during the both meetings in April. Councilmen Mike Lowder, Michael Chestnut and Philip Render voted against the resolution.

Sports center general manager John McDonald told City Council that two possible clients, one for a mixed martial arts event and one for a billiards event, said they would be more likely to hold their event at the Myrtle Beach facility were alcohol sales allowed.

“I had another MMA group come to me two days ago,” McDonald said Tuesday. “It’s going to be an ongoing request.”

McDonald said it is likely that those groups would not have held their events in Myrtle Beach had City Council not decided to allow alcohol sales. He said he thinks the center will host four to six events where alcohol would be sold from August to January

“But this isn’t doesn’t mean we’ll start selling alcohol tomorrow,” he said. “We still need a license from the state. ... I think it will be at least two months until we can hold an event [with alcohol sales.]”

Lowder has strongly opposed allowing alcohol sales since city staff first proposed it last month.

“I’m a firm believer that this is a sports facility that was created for youth sports,” he said. “It wasn’t created for boxing matches or anything else. ... I can’t support this.”

Councilman Wayne Gray has said allowing alcohol sales would open the city up to events it might not have been able to get otherwise.

“While, predominately, we knew that it would be for youth sporting events when we built it, we talked about adult events being held there too ... like pickleball,” he said. “It doesn’t offend me that if there’s an adult event in there that an adult would be able to buy a drink.”

Council members also discussed whether alcohol should be restricted to the lobby or allowed in the seating area due to the hardwood floors. Soft drinks and food already are allowed.

“Surface deterioration is not an issue,” McDonald said. “It’s a more delicate cleanup issue because of the smell.”

Councilwoman Susan Grissom Means said she worried about causing behavior issues by restricting the area where attendees could consume drinks.

“If you restrict alcoholic beverages to one area, like the lobby, chances are they’re going to knock it back so they can get back out there,” she said. “I think that would cause more of a problem.”

The resolution establishes that alcohol – wine, beer and spirits – be available only at adult-themed events and all signs of the alcohol be taken down when the event is over. The sales would be done by an outside vendor.

McDonald said the allowance of alcohol won’t change the way he markets the facility.

“We’re not going tell people they can come here and have alcohol at their events,” he said. “But if they ask for it, I needed to know if it was something that would be allowed. ... It opens the door to some events that we would not have otherwise been able to get.”

This story was originally published May 13, 2015 at 5:27 PM with the headline "City approves alcohol sales at Myrtle Beach Sports Center."