Students won’t be allowed to keep the caps of their water bottles inside the Arizona Stadium on Saturday.
Instead, concession workers will remove bottle tops before handing the item over to purchasers at the east stadium concessions and the north and south concession stands.
“”It was a commitment we made as a reactionary response to the Oregon game of last year,”” said Suzy Mason, events coordinator for Arizona Athletics. “”They became projectiles, and we had some issues with folks getting injured, not only at the Oregon game and at the Iowa game, and people working on the field being hit with projectiles.””
A UAPD officer was hit in the leg by a water bottle thrown by a UA student at the game against Iowa on Sept. 18.
The University of Arizona Police Department recommended the switch as well.
“”The reason we recommended that is, if someone has a plastic bottle, they can fill it with something to make it heavier, so when it’s thrown, it has more mass to it. The idea behind not having the cap is if it is thrown, the item in it will fall out and be less than the original,”” said UAPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Juan Alvarez.
The Arizona Board of Regents approved the UA’s request to not give caps to customers at select concession stands.
Concessions workers aren’t in favor of the new protocol.
“”They targeted the sections where the ammo was being thrown,”” said Brett Brestel, director for Athletic Concessions. “”It’s an extra hassle. Imagine this last game. We probably had to take off easily 25,000 bottle caps. Let me tell you, you get some blisters.””
Students think the change won’t affect the bottle throwers.
“”Some people are just stupid and will do it anyways,”” said Alex Neff, a psychology freshman.
Other students feel it’s unfair to people who purchase water and have the bottle knocked over, wasting their money.