The NFL and those who run the league’s stadiums are trying to improve their game plan for tackling unruly fan behavior.
Milt Ahlerich, vice president of security, said the NFL Security Advisory Group of league executives and outside security experts told the league, “Your fan base is starting to change in some of your stadiums, you’re getting 21- to 35-year-olds that are coming to do nothing but just binge drink … and for every person who is an idiot in the stands [that person] impacts 25 other patrons.”
The warning follows several well-publicized incidents, including one involving some boorish Jets fans at Giants Stadium last December, and a segment on drinking at NFL games on HBO’s “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel.” Ahlerich passed the message along to the Stadium Managers Association meeting in San Diego last week, and at a later breakout session of 50 people involved in operating NFL facilities the issue was No. 1 on the list of concerns.
Bryan Pett, the Chicago Bears’ director of stadium operations, said that, based on the number of e-mails from season-ticket holders saying they’re tired of dealing with drunken fans at Soldier Field, the issue is one that Bears President Ted Phillips is concerned about.
This Vikings fan played by the rules, but drinking
brings out the devil in some NFL spectators.
It’s early in the offseason, but it’s possible the NFL could re-examine leaguewide rules concerning alcohol sales, which now require stadiums to stop selling beer at the end of the third quarter, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. That rule was enacted several years ago when Paul Tagliabue was commissioner.
“We’re always concerned about the fan experience at the games and are continuing to look at how to improve it, including the responsible use of alcohol,” Aiello said. “If there are better ways to do things in all areas of security, that will be our approach. There is nothing specific at this time.”
Pett said improved ways to combat alcohol-fueled misbehavior at stadiums could be discussed during the NFL’s business meetings this spring.
Lawsuits filed against arenas and stadiums, their teams and their concessionaires over fans who drove drunk and injured others have forced the industry to put greater emphasis on alcohol management. In some cases, it has led teams to punish season-ticket holders.
Everyone in the roomful of NFL facility managers confirmed they have no problem revoking season tickets and seat licenses for patterns of fan misbehavior tied to those seats regardless of who is sitting in them when the incidents occur.
“We’ve probably got a dozen cases right now involving some prominent people in the community that have lost their seats because of who they handed their tickets to,” said Jimmie Sacco, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ executive director of stadium management at Heinz Field.
The Bears have a similar revocation procedure at Soldier Field, Pett said.
The New York Jets, in conjunction with landlord the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and concessionaire Aramark, banned beer sales at the Jets’ final home games in 2005 and 2007 after highly publicized incidents at Giants Stadium.
The Jets announced the sales ban before the 2005 finale but gave no warning in December. The club had found out that “the downside was increased consumption in the parking lot,” Jets vice president Bob Jordan said.
