Issuance of beverage license to the authority.

(1) The Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation is authorized, upon application, to issue a beverage license, as contemplated in ss. 561.17 and 565.02, to the Florida State Fair Authority for use by the authority or by a concessionaire under contract with the authority within the Florida State Fairgrounds in Hillsborough County; however, the license issued pursuant to this section shall not permit the licensee or its transferee assigns to sell alcoholic beverages in sealed containers for consumption off the Florida State Fairgrounds.

(2) The application for the license authorized in this section shall be made in the name of the Florida State Fair Authority, and the applicant shall comply with all applicable provisions of chapter 561 prior to the issuance of the license in the name of the Florida State Fair Authority.

(3) The Florida State Fair Authority may transfer the beverage license authorized in this section to a concessionaire under contract with the Florida State Fair Authority to furnish alcoholic beverages within the Florida State Fairgrounds. The contract with the concessionaire must contain a provision that the concessionaire agrees not to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, age, or religion. The Florida State Fair Authority shall make application for the transfer of the license to the concessionaire, and the application shall be approved by the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco in compliance with the applicable provisions of chapter 561. However, any transfer of the beverage license authorized in this section to a concessionaire operating under contract with the Florida State Fair Authority shall be on the condition that, if the concession contract is terminated at any time and for any cause, the concessionaire shall immediately retransfer the beverage license to the Florida State Fair Authority. In the event of the failure or refusal of the concessionaire so to retransfer the beverage license, it shall be retransferred to the Florida State Fair Authority upon proper request made in writing to the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Thereafter, the beverage license may again be transferred upon the same terms and conditions to any new concessionaire under contract with the Florida State Fair Authority. It is the intent and purpose of this section that the beverage license be at all times the property of the Florida State Fair Authority, subject to its transfer, from time to time, to enable the concessionaire under contract with the Florida State Fair Authority to furnish alcoholic beverages within the Florida State Fairgrounds while operating under the beverage license authorized by this section.