ABC Board looks to allow Tigerland bars to stay open later on home football game days.

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BATON ROUGE - After the contraflow nightmare at LSU last weekend, the East Baton Rouge Alcoholic Beverage Control Board might have a solution: allowing bars to stay open for an extra hour.

The ABC Board has called a special meeting Thursday to discuss a 3 a.m. closing time for Class A establishments, so liquor stores and gas stations will not be affected. The late closing time will only happen for LSU and Southern University home football games this season, ending Dec. 31.

This idea is being pitched as a direct response to the gridlock created along Baton Rouge streets following the LSU and Southern game. ABC Board Chairman, Scott Wilfong, thinks the extra hour for bars will create less of a mad dash on the roads after the game ends. “This was in response to a little bit of what happened this past Saturday night with some of the traffic nightmares in Baton Rouge," Wilfong said.

Jason Nay, general manager of Fred's in Tigerland, thinks an extra hour on game days could help make the crowd more manageable. “I think if we’re open later there won’t be such an urgency for everyone to be on the road at the same time and get to the bars," Nay said. “If it’s a slow, consistent group of people coming and leaving, I think it makes things more manageable all together.”

Once the ABC Board votes on this resolution in their special meeting, it will then be turned over to the Metro Council for another vote. Wilfong says, of the metro council members he has spoken to, he has not heard any opposition.

“I’ve spoken with at least half a dozen members of the council, I haven’t heard any opposition to this at this point," Wilfong said.

The EBR Metro Council's next meeting is Wednesday, Sept. 21.

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