Debates quiet down on proposal to allow bars to stay open on home gameday weeks after ABC board endorses idea
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BATON ROUGE- About a month ago, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board agreed with an idea to keep bars open until 3 a.m. when LSU or Southern plays a home game that starts after 5 p.m.
It was a topic everyone had an opinion on, causing a lot of conversation in Baton Rouge.
But now those conversations are starting to fizzle out.
The idea began after the LSU and Southern game left many stuck in brutal traffic for hours.
In the meeting at the ABC board, many bar owners, like Jason Nay the co-owner of Fred's, said that night games will hurt their business without the extra hour.
"If it's Alabama - LSU at 7 p.m. and there is an overtime, it will totally crush our business," Nay said.
When WBRZ last talked to Nay, he said he supported the idea. He believes it will give people more time to make a plan to get to the bar and allow people to trickle in, instead of having one massive rush.
"Maybe people go back to the tailgate for an hour because they have plenty of time and they call their Ubers an hour later," Nay said.
Not everyone agreed. Some like Sunny House with Mothers Against Drunk Driving told us the same day this idea could cause more people to drive drunk.
"It gives people an extended amount of time to get more intoxicated and then get on our roads," House said.
The debate has cooled off recently. The Metro Council has yet to talk about the proposal and as of Wednesday, it is not on the council's agenda.