Sample also cited liability issues as a reason to ban alcohol inside the stadium. "If somebody gets drunk on beer that is being sold on game days, on Trojan game day, and goes out and gets in a fight and hurts somebody, or gets in a car and kills somebody, there's going to be a lot of lawsuits."
Asked whether the no-alcohol policy would apply to the Sports Arena, home to the USC men's basketball team for one more season, Sample said, "We haven't gotten that far, so I don't have a definitive answer, but you can guess what my answer will be."
The Sports Arena is also under the purview of the Coliseum Commission.
Beer was sold at baseball games at Dedeaux Field until a few years ago. It stopped, a school spokesman said, because a new concessionaire did not have a liquor license.
Chris Copenhaver, a junior business major at USC, said he was aware that the school had been considering banning alcohol inside the Coliseum.
"I think a few people ruined it for everybody," he said.
Jessica Welman, a recent USC graduate, said the policy would not stop fans from attending games. "We're No. 1 in the country," she said. "You could stop selling food and people are still going to go."
Times staff writer Sam Farmer contributed to this report.
