Football fans will have to find a new way to relieve stress when the Gators are trailing during a game.
The Ben Hill Griffin Stadium will kick off the campus-wide tobacco ban by prohibiting smoking, while all forms of tobacco will be banned at UF/s Health Science Center and all Shands HealthCare buildings as of Nov. 1.
As of the first home game, where the Gators will take on Charleston Southern University on Sept. 5, the Swamp will no longer offer its current four smoking areas and will become smoke free, said Chip Howard, associate athletic director of operations at the University Athletic Association.
However, smokeless tobacco will still be allowed until July, when all of the UAA/s facilities will ban all forms of tobacco in order to adhere with UF/s campus-wide tobacco ban which will begin in July, Howard said.
He said the UAA decided to ban only smoking for the upcoming football season and not all forms of tobacco because there haven/t been many problems with smokeless tobacco products, like chewing tobacco.
"More of the problems are with secondhand smoke," Howard said