The sale and possession of alcoholic beverages inside the Coliseum will no longer be allowed at USC home football games, USC President Steven Sample said Wednesday, citing increasing surliness, foul language and other behavior by fans that he said was harming the game-day atmosphere.
"We're going to get tough," Sample said in an interview.
USC, which set attendance records the last two seasons, was the only Pacific 10 Conference school -- and one of only a few nationally -- that allowed the sale of alcoholic beverages inside the stadium at home games. Several Pac-10 schools allow alcohol to be sold in buildings near their stadiums.
Beer is sold inside the Rose Bowl at the Rose Bowl game, but not at UCLA games, according to Darryl Dunn, general manager of the stadium.
Sample outlined the reasons for his decision in a letter that was sent to about 10,000 USC supporters. In the letter, Sample said that to make the Coliseum "more family-friendly" the school and the Coliseum Commission, which operates the historic venue, "have agreed to end the sale of alcohol inside the Coliseum."
Bernard C. Parks, a Los Angeles city councilman and a member of the Coliseum Commission, said the commission is not opposed to the plan, under one condition, "that the Coliseum be made whole as it relates to the revenue loss."
USC and the Coliseum share net concessions revenue, Pat Lynch, general manager of the Coliseum, said in an interview. The ban on alcoholic beverage sales -- a cup of beer cost $5.50 last season, according to Lynch -- is expected to cost the two entities hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"We don't know what the total impact will be until we go a total season without it," Lynch said. "We don't know how many people are going to buy a soda or water instead."
Asked whether prices on other items would increase to make up for the shortfall, Lynch said, "We're going to look at everything."
Chris Bigelow, a food-service consultant who has worked with stadiums and arenas throughout the nation, said there was no replacement for lost beer sales. "Upward of 30% or 40% of sales could easily be in beer," he said.
Bigelow also said prohibiting alcohol sales inside the stadium would not necessarily curb untoward fan behavior.
"They might think, 'Since we can't get a beer in the stadium, we'll have a few more in the parking lot,' " Bigelow said. "It doesn't eliminate a lot of the security problems. Sometimes it can create more security issues."
