Insurance issue halts alcohol sales at University of Nebraska Kearney football game
By Aaron Bonderson 
, Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media
Sept. 8, 2025, 12:15 p.m. ·
Saturday was supposed to mark the first time the University of Nebraska at Kearney would sell alcohol at a home football game.
But the in-state battle with Chadron State College ended up being a dry affair. The Lopers’ concession vendor was unable to secure proper insurance in time for the game.
Nightlife Concepts, a Kearney based LLC, holds the concessions contract for UNK events. The company needs $5 million worth of liquor liability coverage under the University of Nebraska system rules, UNK spokesperson Todd Gottula said.
“What happened is that the vendors’ insurance provider could only provide $1 million in the liquor liability coverage,” Gottula said, “and what happened is they had some issues confirming whether or not their insurance covered stadiums.”
The company has worked with UNK in the past in selling food and non-alcoholic drinks at Loper home games. Nightlife Concepts owns local restaurant and bar Cunningham Journal, so the vendor has worked with alcohol licensing and insurance before, Gottula said.
“There were some breakdowns in communication at several levels, unfortunately,” Gottula said.
On Friday, the Kearney athletic department notified the public that “due to unforeseen issues with vendor insurance relative to university requirements, alcohol will not be served at Saturday’s Nebraska Kearney football game with Chadron State,” according to an announcement on the UNK Athletics website.
The news was also posted to UNK’s Facebook and X pages at 6:50 p.m. Friday.
About 3,000 fans showed up to support the Lopers in a 41-21 win over Chadron State, according to the official box score. The UNK stadium holds about 5,200 people.
Last October, the Board of Regents approved alcohol sales at all athletic venues across the NU system. In early August, UNK said it would join the Husker athletic department in selling booze at football games.
"Offering beer and other alcoholic beverages in a regulated and responsible manner is a positive step for our program and our fans," athletic director Marc Bauer said at the time.
The University of Nebraska at Omaha serves alcohol at hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, softball, baseball and men’s and women’s soccer events. In addition to football games, Husker Athletics sells beer and seltzers at baseball, softball, men’s and women’s basketball and, now, women’s volleyball and soccer games.
With the insurance issue up in the air, Gottula said he’s “happy with the direction” the process is going.
“Our next [home] game is Sept. 20 vs. Emporia State, and I'm pretty confident we'll have it in place by that game,” Gottula said.
He added the insurance decisions are entirely decided by the vendor. There will be a “hit to revenue” but it’s unclear how much money Loper Athletics lost from not selling alcohol Saturday, Gottula said.